Three days later, at dusk, the sunset has sunk to the west, and the yellow sun shines on the undulating Qinling Mountains, and the mountains on both sides are like steamed buns sandwiching the central Chencang Road.

An army with a blue flag marched along the valley road, and on the right side of the mountain road, there was a gurgling Qingjiang River, and nearly a thousand soldiers escorted dozens of oxen and horse-drawn carts along the riverbank, escorted by thousands of horsemen in front and behind.

During the march, the valley between the mountains on both sides gradually narrowed from wide to narrow, and the Great Scattered Pass also appeared in front of this army. The walls of the pass are winding or suddenly rising with the terrain of the mountains, and the grass and trees between the two hills are verdant, and the main city pass is only exposed in the upper half of the verdant hills, and they can not get a full view until they get close.

At this time, the dusk has already shrouded the four wilderness, when the afterglow of the sunset is about to disappear, the desolation of the grass and trees can also show the wilderness of this place, if it is not for the man-made construction of the city, this must be an isolated place.

At the head of the city, soldiers were already holding torches and looking down, and at each battlement, a sergeant pulled out his longbow and crossbow, aiming at these uninvited guests from afar. The soldier glanced around and shouted, "Don't move, it looks like it's our banner below." ”

He put his hand to his mouth and asked in a loud voice, "What part of the army are you?" ”

I only heard a loud reply from below: "We are the subordinates of General Li Guiren, the general has recaptured Fengxiang County, and we have come to the gate to announce it, and there is a reward from His Majesty Shengwu to increase the official!" Hurry down and take the order. ”

The soldiers who lit the torches hurriedly went to inform the general, and the general walked out of the castle tower with the torch in hand. The general was also quite cautious, holding a torch and shouting to the city: "You are the part of General Li's command?" ”

Yan Xiaosi's eyes turned quickly, and he raised his head and shouted: "I am the sixth son of my father-in-law, and I am inconvenient to see the Holy Father today, so please come down and receive the order." ”

"Okay, go down with me," the general led five or six guards down the stairs to the city wall, called someone to open the city gate, and rode to Yan Xiaosi. Both sides were holding torches, and the black smoke from Songming was so thick that they couldn't see each other's faces clearly, but the general still looked forward carefully: "This young general looks a little embarrassed." ”

Yan Xiaosi didn't talk nonsense with him, he directly took out the yellow silk from the tube behind him, pulled his hands away to block his face, and asked the soldiers next to him to approach the torches to illuminate: "Under the door, my Dayan Dynasty has made outstanding achievements in the Guanzhong Army, and the guards of the pass have made An Xiaoxian loyal to his duties, and I am very relieved, and I am promoted to the general of Zhuangwu, awarded the title of Earl of Chencang County, given thousands of acres of good land, and 700 households!" ”

The general was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly turned over and dismounted and knelt on the ground and bowed: "Thank you to Your Majesty Emperor Shengwu, Your Majesty will have a long life and a long life!" ”

Yan Xiaosi walked up to him with the holy decree and said with a smile: "General An, take the decree." ”

This An Xiaoxian held the holy object in his hands with both hands, and the tentacles felt that the texture of the silk was inferior, so he opened his hands suspiciously, only to see that the yellow silk was empty, and he didn't write a word: "What's going on!" ”

"Boom!"

The yellow silk cloth cracked open in his hand, and the blade slashed from his neck with a cold light, spurting out a large amount of blood, and Yan Xiaosi had already lifted his head in his hand. Several warriors behind Yan Xiaosi raised their bows and crossbows, and arrows whizzed, shooting all of An Xiaoxian's guards to the ground.

Yan Xiaosi lifted his head and turned over on the horse and said, "Kill into the pass!" ”

Dozens of war horses entered from the gate of the city, and the two soldiers who were about to close the door were swept by the horizontal knife and fell to the ground. In the dark night, swords and lights were intertwined, and the two sides fought fiercely. Yan Xiaosi rushed to a high place with his head in his hand, and while illuminating it with a torch, he shouted loudly: "Your lord general has been ambushed, the head is here, don't surrender quickly!" Those who dare to resist will be killed! ”

The crisp sound of throwing knives sounded everywhere on the city wall, and all the armor removed by the rebels was piled up, and everyone lined up to be escorted by the Tang army to the small school field in the pass. Yan Xiaosi stood on the lookout platform with torches in his hands, facing down to line up the captives wearing thin kudzu linen clothes, and shouted loudly: "Report your household registration!" ”

One of them was burly, with a bulging abdomen, and it was basically a senior official who could eat such fat, and he replied with a full heart: "General Qiqi, we are all Yandi people. ”

"Oh, it turned out to be from Fanyang, Youzhou." Yan Xiaosi turned around, hung a bronze mirror carved with strange patterns on the wall, and asked everyone, "Have you ever heard of Zoroastrianism?" ”

"Of course I did." The general prisoner said, "Great Yan Saint Martial Emperor...... No, the dog thief An Lushan believes in Zoroastrianism. ”

"It's good to hear it," Yan Xiaosi said loudly with his hands on his stomach, "This mirror is handed down by the Zoroastrian god Ahura Mazda, and it can distinguish evil, as long as the sun's rays are reflected on the guilty person through the mirror during the day, this person will be dizzy and his heart will be unbearably hot." ”

The captives looked at each other, but only the officer had his chin raised with his stomach held high, apparently disdainful of such a strange force.

Yan Xiaosi said again: "Now listen, you people followed the thieves to the south to rebel, all the way from Hebei to Henan, and then to Luoyang Chang'an, on the way, there were no people killed, and those who had raped women from good families stood on the left. ”

The captives were confused, and one of them raised his hand and asked, "Is it considered that he who only robs and has not killed the people?" ”

"No," Yan Xiaosi replied categorically: "Although robbery is a big crime, it is not a serious crime, and you can make meritorious contributions." ”

Most of the 2,000 soldiers on the school field ran to the left, and only a few stood on the right, and these few people raised their heads with calm faces, as if they had looked down on life and death.

Yan Xiaosi cocked his thumb and praised: "Dare to do it, you can be regarded as a man." He turned his head and ordered, "Send them on their way!" ”

The crossbowmen on the ramparts immediately pulled the strings and shot the men into hedgehogs and fell to the ground.

The rest of the people quietly breathed a sigh of relief and secretly rejoiced, thanks to not being honest.

Yan Xiaosi turned around and pointed to the bronze mirror and said, "I know that there are still many of you who are not telling the truth and trying to get by, but it's okay. Tomorrow I will shine this Mazda's mirror on each of you, and those who have committed sins will have nothing to hide. ”

After that, he waved his cloak and turned to leave, and instructed the lieutenant general behind him: "Let them squat on the school grounds tonight and guard them strictly, and tomorrow morning I will use the mirror one by one." ”

The prisoners squatting on the school field began to look solemn and exchanged heads with each other, but when they saw the Tang soldiers on the city wall above their heads, they quietly lowered their voices.

Time passed slowly with the sound of the Qingjiang River on the side of Dasanguan, and the full moon also shifted from the proper air to the side of the foothills, and after the Tang soldiers on the city wall changed their guards, they began to doze off against the wall battlements.

Several officers of the rebel army quietly gathered together to discuss how to survive in the current desperate situation.

One of the Zoroastrians lowered his eyebrows and said: "My family believes in Mazda, the god of light, it is said that the god of light did leave many divine objects, and the bronze mirror is engraved with a statue of the god of light with wings, I think the bronze mirror is true, tomorrow you and I will die!"

The fat officer raised his foot and aimed it at the man's stomach and kicked him to the ground, and said angrily in a low voice: "Hugh is to blame the power of the gods, Mazda's hometown is in Persia and the Zhaowu Nine Kingdoms, where did the Hexi Army come from?"

The Zoroastrians got up from the ground and squatted away from the officer, but they still whispered: "The Hexi army has never been there, but Li Siye and the Anxi army under his command have been, and they have obtained a lot of Mazda artifacts when they are eating big, absolutely."

The fat officer glared at this man angrily, simply ignored him, and whispered to the people around him: "Regardless of whether this bronze mirror is a divine object or not, the imperial army has no intention of letting us go at all!" Now that the summer is hot, the sun makes the bronze mirror reflect on the body, which can stand the dazzling burning, but it is just an excuse to kill us. ”

The Zoroastrians replied in the distance: "Do you have to find an excuse for the court to kill us?" You can shoot an arrow to death tonight. ”

The officer was not angry this time, and said to the Zoroastrian, "Even if that artifact is real, who here today has not done anything unreasonable?" You and I can't wait to die, we have to find a way to live. ”

"How to live the law? We have been stripped of our armor by swords and spears, and we are like sheep to the slaughter. ”

The fat officer beckoned everyone's heads to him, and whispered: "I just took a sneak look, the north city gate is heavily defended and there is no chance, besides, there are only four soldiers guarding the gate at the south city gate.

"But the south gate leads to Hanzhong, what's the use of escaping?"

"Hehe, Hanzhong is rich, you and I ran to the mountains to set up our own cottage portals, and usually went down the mountain to rob our houses, which is enough to feed us people. If the imperial court wins in the future, we will continue to be bandits, and if Emperor Shengwu wins, we can continue to join the Yan army to rob Shuzhong. ”

(PS: Thank you for the book's reward.) ）