The three of them had already gotten into the carriage.

Although Fugu Samo has now been released from the Liangzhou prison, Yu Chi Baolin will find out about this matter sooner or later, and of course he will not be able to stand idly by. Jiang Shenzhou had already prepared for the worst, that is, he would personally lead his troops to hunt him down.

So Jiang Shenzhou untied the shackles for Fugu Sama and said his next plan.

The first step is to get out of the city, this matter has been arranged by Gao Dawei, and the carriage is now going in the direction of the outside of the city.

The second step is to meet with the brothers of Tiance Mansion outside the city. They had already left the city as planned, and were waiting for them outside the city at this time.

The third step is to head east towards the Tengger Desert, and then wait for an opportunity to go south. The advantages of this are twofold: First, Yu Chi Baolin will definitely not guess this route. Second, it is the territory of Xue Yantuo Kingdom, even if Yu Chi Baolin chases after him, he will definitely have some scruples.

The idea has been decided, and no one has objected, but there is one small problem - Fugu Samo cannot go yet.

"Why can't you go yet?" Jiang Shenzhou asked. Although he was calm on the surface, he was very anxious inside. Time is of the essence, and every moment of delay increases the danger.

"Before I go out of town, I have to go to one more place." Sugu Samo Road.

"What place? How long will it take? ”

"A ruined temple, about half an hour back and forth."

"Half an hour, there will definitely not be enough time." Jiang Shenzhou thought about it, looked at him in embarrassment and asked, "You must go?" ”

"I have to go, or I'd rather not go." Fugu Samo replied with a firm face, looking like there was no room for negotiation.

Jiang Shenzhou hesitated for a moment and nodded.

Before going there, he had to try to inform the Tiance Mansion brothers outside the city to let them set off first. Twenty miles east of Liangzhou City, there was a place called Gaogou Fort, and Jiang Shenzhou planned to let them wait there. This matter has nothing to do with them, and they should not be put in danger.

But who should be informed? Qin Sheng must be reluctant to go, she will never leave Fugu Samo and go first. Jiang Shenzhou naturally couldn't go, he hadn't found out the secret of the military camp yet.

"I'll go." Tall and mighty.

"Then there will be labor." Jiang Shenzhou shook his hand hard.

"This is my badge, and they will believe you when they see it." Qin Sheng handed her badge to Gao Dawei, and now she knew that his name was Gao Dawei, and she also knew that he was Jiang Shenzhou's mysterious friend in Liangzhou.

"I'll go now." Gao Dawei jumped out of the car, and his figure was soon gone.

"Drive—" With a shout, the carriage set off again, this time driving in Sugu Samor.

The night is as cool as water, and the long street is lonely.

The cold wind was gusting outside the carriage, but the desert seemed to be unconscious, and a pair of eyes looked into the distance without blinking.

In the distance was a deep and endless darkness, which usually represented danger, fear, and death, but in the face of darkness, his face was only unstoppable.

In the blink of an eye, the carriage drove into the darkness.

I don't know how long I walked in the dark, but the carriage finally stopped.

As soon as the car stopped, Sugu Samo jumped down and went straight to the temple in front of him.

This is a dilapidated temple, not only the two stone towers at the entrance have already collapsed to the ground, even the plaque has been moth-eaten so that it is impossible to see the original appearance, as for the temple door, it is not good, the original double door is only half left. Such a door, not to mention preventing thieves and thieves, can't even block the wind.

Jiang Shenzhou and Qin Sheng glanced at each other, and they seemed to be asking each other a question: What is he doing here?

They soon had an answer.

As soon as Sugu Samo reached the door, dozens of children poured out of the door.

The children were both male and female, ranging in age from one to the youngest, the youngest to be four or five years old, and the oldest to be twelve or thirteen years old.

Despite their different ages, they also have a lot in common, they are all thin, they are all dressed in shabby clothes, and they all have innocent and warm smiles on their faces.

It was cold, and all the little faces were red from the cold, but every child was excited because they saw Fugu Samo.

"Grandpa, grandpa, where have you been these days? I miss you so much. ”

"Grandpa, don't you want us anymore? Why now? ”

"Grandpa, please don't leave us behind, I promise you will never wet the bed again."

The children asked in a gossiping voice.

"Don't you all quarrel, isn't Grandpa here? It's windy outside, let Grandpa in. It was the boy who looked to be twelve or thirteen years old.

As soon as he finished speaking, all the children fell silent and walked inside with them in their arms. It looks like he's the leader of the group.

"Xiao Chang is good." Fugu Samo looked at him with satisfaction.

There is only one hall inside, the Buddha statue in the hall is long gone, and the ground is covered with layers of hay, it seems that this is where the children live.

Jiang Shenzhou and Qin Sheng also entered the hall, and there was a lot of dry food on the car, which was originally prepared by Gao Dawei for Jiang Shenzhou to eat on the road, and now he has given all the dry food to the children.

The children were very polite, and only after thanking Jiang Shenzhou did they sit aside and start eating, they looked as if they had been hungry for a few days.

"They are all orphans of war." Fugu Sama looked at the children kindly and said: "The Tang Emperor is so happy, he has fought a lot of foreign wars over the years, and every time he fights, there will be many orphans who have no one to take care of. ”

Qin Sheng said, "So you took on the responsibility of taking care of them?" ”

Fugu Sama nodded and sighed: "I was also an orphan back then, and if I hadn't been taken in by a Han couple, I wouldn't have lived to this day." You Han people have a saying, vote for me with a peach, and repay it with Qiong Yao, which is probably what it means. ”

He sighed and continued. "It's a pity that my official position is low, and I only have a few taels of silver a month, and it's not enough to take care of these children."

Qin Sheng muttered, "I see......"

She now finally understood why Sugu Samo couldn't even afford to buy a coffin for his deceased wife, who had spent all his money on taking care of his children. But now that Fugu Samo is about to leave Liangzhou, once he leaves, what will these children do? They are all young and have no ability to survive at all.

Thinking of this, Qin Sheng also fell into deep thought, of course she didn't want to leave these children behind, but they had to go.

At this moment, Fugu Samo beckoned to the older boy and said softly, "Xiaochang, come here." ”

The boy named Xiaochang walked over silently.

"Good boy, listen to me. Tomorrow morning you will go to my house, and there will be some silver hidden under my bed, and you will use it to buy food and give it to everyone, remember! Save money. Fugu Sama said earnestly.

Xiao Chang raised his head, and his bright eyes were full of questions: "Is Grandpa going far away?" ”

"Alas......" Fugu Samo sighed, tears were already shining in the corners of his eyes, he touched the boy's head and said, "Grandpa is going to leave Liangzhou for a while, and during this time, you have to take care of other people on behalf of grandpa." ”

"Well, Xiaochang understands." The boy looked at him as if he didn't understand, and nodded vigorously.

"Wait a minute." Just as the boy turned around to leave, Qin Sheng suddenly stopped him. She walked over and gave the boy all the silver she had. Then, she hesitated, took off a jade bracelet from her wrist, and said gently: "Put it away, this jade bracelet can also be exchanged for some money." ”

Xiao Chang took the jade bracelet gratefully and said, "Thank you, sister." ”

At that moment, Sugu Samo stood up and said, "Let's go." ”

The carriage set off again, and half an hour later, the three of them finally got out of Liangzhou City. Although the time was a little later than Jiang Shenzhou expected, fortunately, no one chased after him along the way, and it seemed that Yu Chi Baolin hadn't found out yet.

As soon as he walked out of Liangzhou City, Jiang Shenzhou saw Gao Dawei.

Although he has completed his mission, he still does not leave, but chooses to wait here. In addition to him, there were three horses, two of which were the mounts of Qin Sheng and Jiang Shenzhou, and the remaining one was reserved for Fugu Shamo.

Seeing Jiang Shenzhou appear, Gao Dawei immediately led the horse and walked over, like a humble slave.

Jiang Shenzhou patted him on the shoulder gratefully and said, "You have done me a great favor again, counting it, you have already helped me too much." ”

Gao Dawei handed him the reins in his hand and said, "It is a blessing to be able to share the worries of the son." He said it very sincerely, and it seemed that it was his honor to be able to do things for Jiang Shenzhou.

Qin Sheng reminded: "It's time for us to go." ”

Jiang Shenzhou nodded, understanding that it was time to part.

He had already mounted his horse, but he had only gone a few paces before he reined in his horse again and looked back at Gao Dawei.

"There's something I want to tell you."

"Jiang Gongzi, please speak." Tall and mighty.

"I know you're willing to help me so much, and I know you don't ask for anything in return, but I still want to say thank you."

"Childe is serious." Gao Dawei saluted respectfully, and bowed from afar: "The road ahead is boundless, please take care." ”

Bidding farewell to Gao Dawei, the three of them got on their horses and headed east.

The next thing they had to do was to go to Gaogou Fort and the brothers of Tiance Mansion twenty miles away, at this time, the fourth watch had just passed, and there was less than an hour before dawn.

The night was dark and nothing was visible, but this time they did not lose their way, for the stars in the sky showed him the way.

The sky is full of stars, each guarding its position, the location of the Big Dipper is the direction of due north, the South Dipper is located in the south of the sky, and the star representing the east is the Morning Star, the Morning Star is also known as the Chang Gung Star. Appearing in the east of the horizon at dawn, the star is so bright that it can be seen clearly even in bad weather.

Jiang Shenzhou has already seen the morning star.

"Old general, what is the secret of Wolf Gu Mountain?" Just after walking a few steps, Qin Sheng couldn't help but ask.

"Actually, even if you don't ask about it, I'll talk about it." Sugu Sama replied.

He stared into the distance, a sad look appeared on his old face, and it took a long time for him to speak: "For a long time, Wolf Gu Mountain has been the place where the two countries of the Tang Dynasty and Xue Yantuo have fought the most, and there are thousands of Tang army bones buried under the desert there. ”

At this, his voice became hoarse with grief, and he couldn't help coughing.

Qin Sheng said with emotion: "Wei Chi Baolin talked about this matter, it is precisely because of the sacrifice of these soldiers that there is peace in Liangzhou today. ”

"You're wrong!" Fugu Samo retorted excitedly: "Many of them were not killed in the war, but were killed by Yu Chi Baolin, this is the secret of Wolf Gu Mountain. ”

"What you said is true......" Qin Sheng was so surprised that he was almost speechless.

Fugu Samo nodded silently, and said sadly: "Since five years ago, Wei Chi Baolin has deceived the new soldiers into the Langgu Mountain Desert in the name of patrolling the border, and those recruits have never been to the desert, and they will never be able to get out after entering. ”

At this, his chest rose and fell violently, and he couldn't help but cough a few more times.

Qin Sheng couldn't help but ask, "What evidence do you have?" Although she was very disappointed in Yu Chi Baolin, she still couldn't believe what Fugu Shamo said.

"The evidence is in the sand of Wolf Gu Mountain, as long as their bones are dug out of the sand, it can be proved that they are not killed in battle, but thirst and starvation!" Samo gritted his teeth and replied.

Qin Sheng was stunned, and then asked, "Why did he do this?" ”

Fugu Samo said: "What else can it be, of course, it is to eat empty salaries to fill his own pockets, and for every soldier who dies, he can earn an extra salary." ”

Qin Sheng said: "Isn't he afraid of being discovered by others doing this?" ”

"He's not afraid." "On the one hand, he does these things very secretly, and no one will know about them except his cronies. On the other hand, even if someone asks about the missing soldiers, he can lie that they were killed in battle. ”

He clenched his fists and said fiercely: "This person is insatiable, in addition to killing recruits, he also colluded with the Xue Yantuo people to plunder the caravans on the Silk Road. I suspect that the Xue Yantuo people who attacked Xiutu County were attracted by him. ”

Qin Sheng was silent, Jiang Shenzhou also reminded her of this, but she didn't believe it at all. It wasn't until now that she found out that there was indeed something wrong with Yu Chi Baolin, and everything seemed to be arranged.

At this time, Jiang Shenzhou asked: "Does the old general know what the situation of the Chishui Army is now?" ”

"What's the situation? What else can it be, Wei Chi Baolin is useless except greedy for money, and the current Chishui Army is lax, the morale is weak, and the combat effectiveness has already plummeted. ”

"How many people are in the barracks?"

Fugu Sama sighed and said, "I can't say how much, but according to my guess, it won't be more than twenty-seven thousand. ”

Jiang Shenzhou frowned, this number was the same as what Gao Dawei told him. He only hoped that no one else would know the secrets of the Chishui Army now, especially the people of the Xue Yantuo Kingdom.

"Since you found out about this, why didn't you report it to the court?" After a long time, Qin Sheng asked, and there was no lack of blame in his tone.

Fugu Samo smiled bitterly: "Actually, I just found out, but there was indeed a person before me who also knew this secret, and he did report it." ”

Qin Sheng was curious: "Who is this person?" ”

Fugu Samo was silent for a long time before he slowly spoke: "He is Sun Peng." ”