The bells on the horses rang and lingered for a long time in the sandstorm, sometimes sparse, sometimes dragged.

A team of more than 100 horses set out from Xifenghuo and traveled all the way to the east, preparing to return to Zisaixiong Pass.

The Northern Barbarians have invaded, and the beacon towers here have completed their mission, and there is no point in staying.

And for the soldiers of the Tanma Battalion...... As long as all the staff can return to Zisai safely, it is a victory.

On the horizon, huge clouds obscured the sun, and the soldiers of the Tanma Battalion had chapped lips and white dander on their faces.

On horseback, carrying heavy burdens and cages, the cold ghost weather unique to the desert made the sound of war horses' hooves even more sluggish, and the soldiers had to keep slapping them and urging them to march.

"The second city of Zisai seems to be very lively today." Soldiers walked at the front of the line, kneeling and muttering.

This soldier can actually hear a voice more than thirty miles away?

"Hehe, of course, the big war is approaching, and the troops of Zisai's outer city, inner city, and Taicheng will definitely assemble in the second city one after another." A middle-aged soldier rode forward and glanced at the soldiers on the ground, his eyes were shrewd and sharp, it was the head of the Tanma Battalion - Lao Liangtou

And this soldier lying on the ground, his eyes are bright, there is a scar about two inches long on the corner of his right eye, a dark face that has been tempered by wind and sand, and he is carrying a three-foot-long black iron box on his back.

"Liangtou, not far from here, is the camp of Yanshan Feiqi, when we pass by in a while, will we send someone to inform the Qiang people to retreat together?"

When Lao Liang heard this, his heart was shocked, by the way, he almost forgot about this stubble.

According to the information brought back by Yang Tingfeng, the Yanshan Flying Cavalry and the Blue Wolf Ranger seemed to be facing each other at the border, and the clansmen who informed them in the camp to retreat were natural and understandable.

But Guo Yanzai's previous words are still in Lao Liang's ears and can't be dispersed for a long time.

If it is really as his fellow townsmen of the shadow guard said, the leaders of the alien races in the border towns are all suspicious of abnormal movements.

Then, bringing the Qiang people back to the second city together means that you are taking a great risk...... After some consideration, he was also a little undecided.

His hesitation, Yang Tingfeng saw it in his eyes, and the man's eyes suddenly lit up, but he wanted to stop talking.

Lao Liangtou immediately realized: "If you have something to say, let it go!" ”

Yang Tingfeng had already stood up at this time, thought for a moment, and then said: "Liang Tou, I have heard that the relationship between the old man Geshu and the leaders of the Qiang people is quite good, right?" ”

Lao Liangtou snorted and said: "Bullshit, what kind of relationship is very good, it's just that interests intersect." It's just that in the past 30 years, no matter what the Qiang people want, Lao Shuai can agree. If you can afford the price, this relationship will become better even if it is not good. ”

"Reasonable!" Yang Tingfeng continued, "To say something disrespectful, if the barbarian can offer a higher price; So, can these Qiang leaders tear up the covenant and betray the court at any time? ”

"That's not necessarily, the Qiang people are not monolithic, especially the name of the Qiang King, there are many leaders staring at that one, and there are at least three who have the strength to win the championship - the fan family, the eldest grandson family, and the Ran Yan family."

Old Liang Tou spit out a mouthful of phlegm as he spoke, but Yang Tingfeng was a little confused, and he was puzzled: "Liang Tou, I don't understand what you mean?" ”

But I heard him cough again, and said in a low voice: "Get on the horse first, let's talk while walking." ”

Yang Tingfeng nodded, turned around and stepped on the captured Golgon war horse beside him, the two galloped side by side for a while, Lao Liangtou suddenly spit out, and spit out a mouthful of thick phlegm, and slowly explained: "Little ghost, what I mean is that even if the Qiang people want to betray the court, they will only be one of the three families, and not all the fucking people will be reversed." ”

"Why is that?" Yang Tingfeng listened more and more confused.

"The reason is very simple, the three families actually want to borrow Ge Shu's Zisai border army to return to Liangzhou to seize the position of King Qiang." Speaking of this, Lao Liangtou took out the sheepskin water bladder on his waist and poured it into the sky.

Yang Tingfeng's heart moved, and he said: "Could it be that Huo Yixuan, the blood barbarian Khan, will also agree to one of them and promise the position of King Yiqiang?" ”

Lao Liang nodded and shook his head again, "That's right, but it's not right!" ”

Yang Tingfeng was stunned, "What's the explanation?" ”

"Whether it is the Midang family or the Ran Yan family or the eldest grandson family, they have strength, and the army under them can be regarded as seasoned, well-equipped and well-trained, but only one point, and they are unknown. However, with the help of the Zisai border army and the official canonization of the Dayin court, it can immediately justify the title of King Qiang of Liangzhou. ”

"I see!" Yang Tingfeng suddenly woke up, and couldn't help but be curious, "But what about Huo Yixuan?" Liangzhou is not considered to be his territory, right? ”

"You're right, for now, Liangzhou is still in the stage of rebellion, and it doesn't belong to either Da Yin or Blood Barbarian!" Lao Liang took off the Da Yin standard Sima helmet, slapped his scalp, and said: "However, once the barbarians capture Zisai, the Qiang barbarians will be able to join forces in one place, and enter the main pass from outside the pass; At that time, wouldn't it be up to them to decide whether to go south to the imperial capital or north to Liangzhou? ”

"That's right!" Yang Tingfeng nodded secretly, but he was surprised.

Lao Liang took another sip of water and continued: "Back then, the patriarchs of the three families of Midang, Ran Yan, and the eldest grandson, under the mediation of Geshu and Lao Shuai, jointly swore a poisonous oath that no matter in the future, the imperial court will canonize the throne of the Qiang king, and the other two families shall not have any objections. If there is any difference, the Qiang people can rise up and kill them. Subsequently, the leaders also swore to kill the white horse in public. Now, you know the ins and outs, right? ”

"Understood, that is to say, if you want the king of Liangzhou, the three families must first recognize the Dayin court." Yang Tingfeng suddenly realized, "Secondly, let's assume that one of them has taken refuge in the barbarians; Then, the other two families will immediately rise and fall apart, and it is inevitable that there will be a wall of the same clan first! Even if the two families rebel, there is only one throne of the Qiang King, even if they can fight back to Liangzhou and regain the throne in the future, but the two families will be incompatible with each other. ”

Lao Liang said lightly: "Therefore, even if it is against the water, among these three, there can only be one; After all, under the protection of the imperial court, any family still has a half chance of getting the throne. ”

Yang Tingfeng frowned, but he thought back to the question at the beginning - whether to inform the Qiang people to retreat

However, Lao Liangtou suddenly slapped his horse forward and shouted excitedly: "Brothers, Zisai! It's almost there! Give me more strength, when I get to the Erniang Inn, I invite everyone to eat roast sheep! ”

Roast sheep? All the sergeants were in a state of shock, all the horses were urged to run fast, and the bells were beating rapidly.

The horse team continued to march towards Zisai, and there were hundreds of traces of black dots moving in this vast sky and earth, and the few patches of withered yellow grass on the dry sand were also trampled by fragments of horses' hoof prints......

The north wind swept the white grass and folded, and the snow flew in August.

It is difficult to protect the iron clothes, and there is a place for horses to travel in the snow.

Passing by the Yanshan Qiang camp, walking through the endless sand sea, and wading through a water meadow, there is an extremely wide and flat post road that extends far away.

At the end of the post road, a tall and majestic city can be faintly seen.

That is the second city of Zisai, and when you enter the city, you can be regarded as truly entering the realm of Dayin.

Although the two cities look close, they are actually nearly twenty miles away, and the closer they are to the city, the more they feel that this is a majestic city.

Line closer, but see:

The city is ten zhang high, more than five miles long, the blue city bricks, simple and heavy.

"Two cities and two cities, speaking of which, this is only one of the five cities outside the purple plug, but this city alone can reach at least 100,000 barbarian soldiers." Yang Tingfeng couldn't help but secretly admire.

After a short journey, the caravan finally reached the city gate.

Not far from the city gate, there have already been countless rejection horses, or rectangular, or diamond-shaped or triangular, the head of the spear is worn on the crossbar of the rejection of the horse, the tip of the spear is outward, and the interval is also provided with barbed wire, its main role is to defend against the large-scale cavalry impact of the barbarians, so it is also called the rejection of the horse gun.

Yang Tingfeng raised his eyes and saw that after rejecting the horse, there were already seven rows and five columns of heavy infantry guarding.

These sergeants wore riveted plate armor on their upper bodies, white deer gauntlets on their shoulders, armor on their thighs, eight shin armors tied to their ankles, and they held tiger tail hook sickles in their left hands and a dragon shield in their right hands.

Yang Tingfeng glanced at it and knew that it was an elite soldier of the A camp, an iron-blooded veteran who had survived a hundred battles.

On the city wall, there are many heavy spearmen of the middle base battalion on duty, as the hoplite unit in the five battalions of the Chinese army in the outer five cities, the middle base battalion adopts the five captains system of the former Beichen Army, and guards the two cities in peacetime, and is incorporated into the combat unit in wartime.

The middle base battalion is neatly armored and disciplined, as the second line of defense of the two cities, after the enemy breaks through the armor camp, it will be firmly nailed by the middle base battalion, they also have gold edges, silver scissors, one long and one short two kinds of infantry spears, can form a tight gun formation, even the barbarian "Tiefutu" heavy cavalry with plate armor and chain mail is difficult to break through.

In addition, on the corner tower of the second city, there are also strong bow battalion Yokoyama archers patrolling back and forth, and the killing power is like a raging wind, and it is like a knife.

Yang Tingfeng knows that this is the real 'killer feature' of Ercheng.

If the first camp and the middle base camp are the 'shields' of the two cities, then the strongbow camp is the 'spear' of the two cities.

These elite archers who were strictly selected from the army, all of them were tall and strong, and they could shoot a bow of ten stones, each carrying fifty crescent neck cutting arrows, fifty armor-piercing conical arrows, carrying a four-edged copper mace or a tiger's eye steel whip, wearing an iron blade at the waist, and a ghost-faced rhino leather armor, even if they fought in close quarters, they could not fall behind at all.

After getting permission to enter, the people of Tanma Camp traveled another ten miles, and finally came to the only inn left in the second city.

It is said to be an inn, but in fact it is a very crude wine shop.

After all, in the entire territory of the Second City, most of the good places are occupied by the military camp, and it is good to have a mud house, and no one will find fault with anything.

This inn made of mud and stone looks like a nondescript mud house from a distance, as if even the wind and sand could bury it at any time.

Outside the door of the store, there is a poplar pole with style, and the big flag on the pole flutters in the wind, and four words are written on the flag: Erniang Inn

On the post road of the inn, dozens of deep wheel marks are still clearly visible, and then countless scattered horseshoe prints are blooming everywhere......