The adjutant general hurriedly crossed his hands and said: "General Niu, money is important, but it is also important to stick to Tongguan, the general needs to think twice, you and I can live in this city." ”

Niu Tingjie waved his hand irritably: "You are too chattering, Chang'an is in our hands now, what can we do?" The Tang army in Guanzhong is still holding on to the wind, and they have recently been defeated in Chen Taoxi, and they have already lost their souls. ”

When the money is taken back, I will share half of it. He immediately waved his hand and ordered several generals under his command: "Immediately straighten out the men and horses, and we will go out to pursue!" In a few days, Lao Tzu will be able to come back with the goods. ”

He swept up from the chair with his cloak, and walked out of the door with the generals under his command.

The general guarding the pass turned over and got on his horse, raised his whip and said to the adjutant general standing below: "I know you are cowardly and afraid, you don't have to worry, even if something happens, I will bear it alone." Open the gates! Let's go! ”

"Hey," the adjutant general was just about to tell him something, but Niu Tingjie had already rushed out of the city gate impatiently, and he had no choice but to say to the Marquis Yu who followed General Niu: "You persuade General Niu, don't get involved in danger." ”

Everyone just crossed their hands in response, and also rushed out of the city gate in a swarm, and the rebels went all the way out of Tongguan in the direction of Fengyiyuan.

When they arrived at the crime scene in Fengyiyuan, they could still see the remains of the rebel corpses, the ground was covered in blood, and the torn armor was thrown everywhere. A Marquis Yu jumped off his horse to check the rut traces, and said to Niu Tingjie: "General, according to the direction of the ruts, these vehicles must have been taken south into the mountains. ”

Niu Tingjie stroked his beard and nodded, and said to the general who led the way: "You and I are right, it is indeed a rout army that has become bandits after the defeat of Tongguan, if you can recover your property, I will forgive you for the death penalty." ”

The young general who led the way immediately crossed his hands and said: "The general can rest assured, he has lost the goods in his humble position, and this time he will definitely make meritorious contributions, and he will fight for his life, and he must also find the general's goods." ”

"It's good to know." Niu Tingjie raised his horsewhip and shouted to the soldiers: "Follow the ruts!" When the goods are recovered, everyone will be rewarded. ”

They changed direction from the wind wing and followed the rut, galloping all the way south in pursuit, while the foot soldiers followed behind them at a gallop and panting.

There are some villages near Tongguan, the people have fled and left, but fortunately, the traces of ruts left on the way are clear, they continue to move along the road, the towering Qinling peaks have appeared in front of them, and the terrain has also fallen apart. Further on, the road had become narrow, and the slopes on both sides were verdant with vegetation, and in some places the peaks were steep and difficult to climb, and the sergeants were mostly tired.

Several generals who followed him stepped forward and said: "We have been pursuing for half a day, people are sleepy and tired, can you take a rest first, presumably the routs and bandits can't run far with vehicles and goods, and the pursuit after resting can also be half the result." ”

Niu Tingjie looked anxiously into the distance, and the yellow horse under him kept snorting, so he had to nod and say, "Okay, rest for half an hour, you drink water and dry food, and set off in half an hour!" ”

The soldiers leaned on the slopes on both sides and lay down, Niu Tingjie estimated the time in his heart, and when the hour was almost there, he immediately got up and urged the soldiers: "Hurry up, get up and chase after me, and after chasing the goods, each person will be rewarded with a bucket of corn!" ”

The generals and soldiers under his command all pouted, General Niu is really an iron rooster, if he can't get back his property today, it is estimated that there will be no corn in this bucket, even if it is good to reward some brown rice.

The mountain peaks in front of them became more and more steep, and the drop between the two sides was tens of meters, and the generals finally felt that something was wrong. If an army is ambushed here, and the retreat is blocked from behind, and the terrain is used to attack downward, they will surely die without a place to be buried.

The two Yu Marquis stepped forward and gave advice: "General Niu, the road ahead is getting more and more precipitous, can you send a team of men and horses to explore the road ahead, and then order the rear army to follow up after determining the safety." ”

Niu Tingjie hesitated for a moment, nodded and said, "Okay, then take a three-mile exploration, you take a few hundred people to explore the road first." ”

At present, this ravine is estimated to be dozens of miles long, and a three-mile exploration still cannot guarantee the safety of the team, Yu Hou asked: "Can you let the army wait here, and wait for ten miles to report back?" ”

"Isn't that my business wrong? Just go and find out! Hurry up! ”

Marquis Yu replied with a cavalry of two hundred people to explore the road, and after traveling for three miles, he sent people back to wave the flag, and Niu Tingjie led the team forward.

The valley before me was deep and silent, and the slopes on both sides were full of dry trees and shrubs, and the horse's hooves rattled on the riverbed below, because the echo was unusually loud. Marquis Yu sent someone back on horseback to report: "General, the car has been found!" It's just five miles ahead. ”

Niu Ting's steps immediately urged everyone forward, and without leaving anyone behind, eight thousand people rushed towards the narrower mountain road. He personally beat the horse in front, and saw that the goods on the ox cart were still there, and even the cattle were not killed by the bandits, he said excitedly: "Fortunately, I didn't lose much, otherwise Lao Tzu would have turned over the whole mountain, and he would have found these Tian Shenu!" ”

As soon as he finished speaking, a large number of soldiers suddenly appeared on the top of the mountain on both sides, prying stones and smashing them downward, or pulling out their longbows and shooting downwards, and these stones flew sideways from side to side like hailstones, and the rebels were immediately in chaos.

The soldiers rushed back in a crowd, but the smashing of the flying stones above their heads became more intense, the brains of those who were hit in the head were cracked, blood overflowed from the ear guards, some were hit in the chest by the flying stones, the ribs collapsed and bleeding, the wounded soldiers lay on both sides of the slope and wailed, and even the horses fell to the ground and bled under the attack of the flying stones.

Niu Tingjie also didn't care about his belongings at this time, and shouted loudly on the horse: "Quickly retreat, quickly withdraw from the valley!" ”

His shoulder armor was smashed off, his shoulder was bleeding, his arm seemed to be dislocated, and he had to abandon his horse and stumble through the valley. The soldiers who followed him to his right and left were shot down by arrows.

A group of wounded soldiers ran to the narrow area of the valley mouth, but the front was blocked by the shields and spears of the Tang army, and the crossbowmen scattered on both sides to shoot crossbow arrows, forcing the rebels to retreat.

Niu Tingjie weakly waved the horizontal knife in his hand, and urged the hundreds of remaining soldiers around him: "Kill, kill to live!" ”

The soldiers stepped forward, and more than a dozen people were shot to the ground by the Tang army's crossbow arrows, and when they rushed to the front, the enemy was hiding behind the strong shield, only the spear pierced out of the gap in the shield, and the body was pierced into a hedgehog, and the remaining hundred or so people retreated.

The two Yu Marquis hid behind Niu Tingjie and exchanged glances, each quietly drew out his knife, stepped forward on tiptoe and held his breath, and quickly put it on Niu Tingjie's neck.

"You two traitors, what are you doing!" General Niu's eyes widened in rage.

"What do you say, of course, you have to live!"

Yu Hou shouted at the soldiers: "If it weren't for Niu Tingjie's insistence on reclaiming his belongings, would you and my brother be killed?" Now it's better to put down your weapons, tie up Niu Tingjie and surrender to the Tang Army! ”

When the soldiers heard this, their weapons crackled and threw them on the ground, and several soldiers stepped forward to tie the Niu Ting steps with hemp ropes.

They shouted towards the Tang army array on the opposite side: "We have tied up the Niu Ting Steps, we surrender!" ”

Feng Changqing had already led his soldiers down from the mountain trail to the bottom of the valley, and many rebels took off their armor and offered the zongzi-like cow court steps. Feng Changqing nodded with satisfaction and said, "General Niu can't die, I still need you to help me take Tongguan City." ”

Niu Tingjie raised his head helplessly, sighed and knelt on the ground obediently: "Niu Tingjie is willing to surrender and help the general obtain Tongguan." ”

"Then ask General Niu to follow me, and the rest of the people will escort the vehicle forward and drive towards Tongguan!"