On August 10 of the second year of Yifeng, the two saints personally stood at the head of the city and watched the expedition march from Chang'an.

Prime Minister Li Jingxuan was appointed as the general manager of Taohe Road, and commanded his generals Liu Xianli, Wang Xiaojie, Li Jinxing, Heizhi Changzhi, Lou Shide and other generals, and ordered Meng Fan to be the military advisor with 180,000 Tang troops to attack Tubo.

A team of more than 30,000 people left the imperial capital and took the lead in reaching Guanzhong Shiping.

At this time, everyone got the military plane sent to Chang'an by Longyou, and the Tubo people were arrogant, led the army to break Shanzhou, burned, killed and looted, and destroyed the city.

Li Jingxuan was very worried when he found out, and he couldn't wait to engrave the four words "what to do" on his face.

Sometimes, Meng Fan thinks that Zhao Kuo, who talks on paper, is also very good, at least no matter what people say, at least he is not timid and dares to command.

Before the battle, the coach was the first to be timid and at a loss...... How else to fight?

Of course, it can also be said that Li Jingxuan is self-aware and knows what this trip means.

It is worth mentioning that Meng Fan was able to follow him this time, offended the two women, Taiping looked for it several times, thinking that he chose to go on the expedition to avoid her, and his aunt Wu Zetian reminded him to cherish his feathers and not make mistakes.

In the end, a sentence that the height of the temple worries the people and blocks all the sounds.

Now, he is in the marching procession and has a face-to-face conversation with the manager:

"The Longyou region has set up three armies of Heyuan, Jishi, and Momen, all of which are veterans of a hundred battles, and their combat effectiveness is by no means comparable to that of the newly recruited Xiangyong."

"There are also battlefield generals to follow, and the poor road also has a little ability, as long as you don't mess up, this trip should be stable!"

"Yes, if Jiu has the means of immortals, he will definitely be able to borrow heavenly soldiers and generals to turn things around." Li Jingxuan seemed to be self-hypnotic, and seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw.

The farther away from Chang'an, the more unassertive this guy becomes, and people can't help but worry about whether he will make some unbelievable maneuvers at a critical moment because of his dizziness, resulting in the annihilation of the entire army.

Therefore, as a military advisor, Meng Fan, who compares himself to the founder of the country, Xu Maogong, is under a lot of pressure, and he can feel comforted that other generals are not parallel goods, even civilian officials are quite bold.

Among them, the name Wang Xiaojie has been heard in film and television dramas, and the frequency is not low-

Detective Di Renjie, the empress loves generals, worships the right Weiwei general, and guards the frontier all the year round.

In addition, there is also the famous black tooth Changzhi.

This name is very strange, so as long as you hear it once, you can remember it deeply, and he is a foreign general who belongs to China, since he can go down in history, it must be a great achievement.

The only fly in the ointment is that the two are very young, and now they are only slightly famous in the army, so they don't have much right to speak, and they can't lead an army alone.

It would be nice if he could have a foresight, Meng Fan sighed, he still had to read more, at least after crossing over, he would be able to use it, but he would not be in a mess.

Because even if you don't do anything, keep a firm eye on the coach Li Jingxuan, don't let him make outrageous decisions, and let the experienced generals below play freely, and they can make some gains in this trip, but the success is only small.

……

This time, the route of the march was to take the ancient road, and the Tang army also chose this route when it went out in the past-

Along the north bank of Weishui, cross Longshan, arrive at Qinzhou, and then continue westward to Weishui, cross the Bird and Mouse Mountain, and enter Linzhou;

Subsequently, from Lintao to the northwest, through Hezhou to cross the Yellow River, through the Longzhi City, continue to the northwest, and finally arrive in Shanzhou.

There were no accidents along the way.

After all, when the thousand-year-old demon saw such a bad spirit in the army, he had to avoid it from afar.

In the process, after the army arrived in Hezhou, it temporarily changed its goal and went to Dunhuang City for rest, and the generals from all walks of life gathered together to analyze the situation in combination with various reports.

Among the 180,000 troops, about 130,000 came from the Central Plains, that is, the recruited Mengshi, who had slowly gathered on the march.

And the rest are waiting on the frontier, veterans of a hundred battles, with rich combat effectiveness and combat experience, to ensure that this battle will not put all hope on the recruits.

If the orchid wants to invite him to stay.

Hanging but the golden whip is a purple horse.

The literati have always been shameless, and they regard taking the initiative to spend money to buy spring as a forced invitation by orchids, as a romantic affair, and often take it out to show off with fox friends and dog friends.

Dunhuang City.

Closely connected to the Silk Road, the murals became famous all over the world, and at the same time, it was also one of the most rampant places in the Western Regions where the slave trade was most rampant.

But to describe it this way, in fact, it carries Meng Fan's strong subjective will, because Datang has never prohibited the sale of slaves, and everything is legal and compliant.

The first night in town.

The lord of this small city with a small earthy yellow border fortress hurriedly ordered someone to secretly send a group of female slaves, but everyone refused with righteous words.

Li Jingxuan and other coaches and generals are all old men, they didn't enjoy anything when they were young, but now they don't care about beauty;

Wang Xiaojie, Hei Tooth Changzhi and other young Zhuang factions are eager to make contributions to their careers, in order to be crowned as a marquis and worship the prime minister, and they are unwilling to bear the stain.

The national war is imminent, playing with women?

Killable!

Even if it was intended to indulge the soldiers, it was repeatedly decreed that it was forbidden to clash with the local people and Hu merchants, and if they did not return at night, they would be beheaded for public display.

"Hu Teng is a Liangzhou child, his skin is like a jade nose like a cone, his paulownia shirt is rolled up and down, and the grapes are long and hanging on one side."

"Kneel in front of the tent to make this sound, swing your sleeves for the king's dance, Anxi old pastor to collect tears, Luo Xia lyricist copied the song and."

"Raise your eyebrows and step on the felt, red sweat exchange bead hat bias, drunk but leaning east and west, soft boots in front of the lamp, ring in a hurry, backhand waist like a moon."

"Silk Tong suddenly played the end of a song, woo painted the hair of Jiaocheng, Hu Teng'er, Hu Teng'er, do you know that the hometown road is broken?"

This poem is used to describe Meng Fan's state of mind, if the Tang army cannot win this battle, the road to the Western Regions will continue to be cut off.

In particular, I saw a woman of different races with three-dimensional facial features wearing a pearl flower hat, wearing a light gauze embroidered long skirt, decorated with golden bells, stepping on brocade boots, twisting slender waists, and stepping on complex dance steps to the beat of drums, making a crisp and cheerful sound with bells.

How long can such a peaceful scene last?

In the end, Meng Fan spent ten taels of gold to buy a female slave girl before leaving, which was the one who left the deepest mark on him in the earthen city of Dunhuang-

When night fell, the caravan would perform by the fire, and Mako Boromi was the best dancer among the slave girls.

Of course, this strange name was chosen by Meng Fan after his redemption, and the word "honey" was removed, which was the same as that of the famous explorer Marco Polo.

For Ma Ke Bolomi, whenever the singing and dancing stopped, she could always notice two people in the crowd, one was Meng Fan, who had an outstanding temperament and was surrounded by countless elite soldiers in armor, and the other was a young man, with an ordinary appearance, a mediocre temperament, obsessive eyes, and a coarse cloth robe.

"That is a nobleman of the Tang Empire, it is said that he came from Chang'an, and he is unspeakably expensive."

The steward of the merchant group introduced: "The other is a local painter, or an apprentice painter, look at his shoulder, even if he washes it cleanly, there is still a layer of paint, and there is no money to reward us." ”

Originally, there is a cliff mountain in the southeast of Dunhuang City, and thousands of grottoes of all sizes have been dug on the cliff face, which are painted with murals and statues to support the Buddha to make merits.

The local rich and noble families are proud to open caves to make offerings, so there will be craftsmen who make a living by painting Buddha statues and carving statues.

During the few days that this caravan stayed in Dunhuang City, not only did people in the military watch and cheer, but the young man with an ordinary face also watched silently in the corner.

Marco Polomi hoped that she would be sold in Dunhuang so that she might be able to see the painter often.

But if no one intervenes, there will be no story between the two, a slave girl destined to be sold to a nobleman, a poor young painter, fate is limited to this-

When the caravan left, the man packed up a few clothes and old sketches, and went into a small cave on the cliff where he could not even stand up from his waist, painting and eating the simplest meals in the offering cave during the day, and sleeping in the small cave at night.

In this life, he will not leave here again, until he is old and weak, he can no longer recognize colors, he can't hold a brush, and he takes the initiative to walk out of the cage-like Mingsha Mountain on a stormy sandstorm day, and walk into the vast desert to end his life.

Behind him was a solemn and ornate offering cave, and on the walls were countless flying heavens dressed in light veils and dancing with a whirlwind, all immersed in the joy and satisfaction of the blissful fairyland, with a woman as the prototype.

And the woman didn't know anything, she came to Chang'an, the most magnificent city in the world, because she was young, beautiful, and good at singing and dancing, she was taken by the nobles at a glance, and she set up to buy a maid ticket, and her life was owned by the new owner.

It's a pity that the luck is not good, the nobles have always liked the new and hated the old, after getting tired of playing, she was sent to the restaurant to make money, the scholars and literati rode horses, first asked to sell wine as a scold, and after the wine was hot, they played music and danced, and tossed until dark.

Since there is a curfew in Chang'an, people who read the books of the sages will ask for it to be introduced and go elsewhere for the night together.

Most of the money was taken by the owner.

When they are old and decrepit, they can no longer play the pipa, they can't dance the Hu Xuan dance, and they become slaves and maids who can't make money, and they will be driven away by their masters and left to fend for themselves.

As a last resort, I found a nunnery and said that the host accepted that he would cut his hair as a nun, worship the Buddha with green lanterns every day, and spend the rest of his life in the sound of wooden fish.

The flying dancing posture when he was young, and the silent Dunhuang painters he met by chance back then, all flashed in the blue smoke and candle flames, and this was the most precious thing that a white beauty could get in the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, before leaving, Meng Fan decided to redeem her body, and burned the deed on the spot, arranged for the lord of Dunhuang to handle the household registration for her, and wrote a hand similar to the household registration book of later generations, and sent a name:

Marco Boromi.

can't change the times, you can only complete a marriage, which is also considered merit.

……

After leaving Dunhuang City, everyone traveled all the way, and finally before the winter came, when Shanzhou City was successfully reached, it had been almost destroyed by the war.

War is coming.

At this moment, many officers and soldiers and civilians inside and outside the city are transporting corpses in rack trucks, and some people are digging pits outside the city.

Staring at the chaotic city, Meng Fan fell silent, and the people living in Chang'an, the Central Plains, and even other areas far away from the war were really in a good place.

"Ladder, who's going to find the secondary ladder? Take the child down. ”

Halfway up the wall was a long arrow, and an infant child was crucified there.

When the army saw this, they were young men who had prepared their own food, clothing, and weapons, and deliberately joined the army to kill the enemy, and immediately shouted: "Don't even let go of the children!" If I don't kill the Tubo people, I won't go back to Chang'an in this life! ”

"August has already looted once, and it has only been a long time, and the slaughter has come to the door again, killing all these beasts!"

A low-level military general said angrily.

"What's the use of just yelling? The saint recruited the warriors and sent everyone here to fight to the death! But everything must be arranged, and the big plan is beyond our reach! ”

After the words fell, Wang Xiaojie looked at the coach Li Jingxuan, as well as Liu Xianli, who was the secretary of the Ministry of Industry and the general of the left guard of the inspection school, which was equivalent to the deputy marshal.

"Although Shanzhou is destroyed, it is still a place to live, so let's go to the city and rest."

Li Jingxuan is the prime minister after all, after the ups and downs of the Huan Sea, and after such a long time of adjustment, he gradually adapted to the status quo, he led the generals to walk in the miserable streets, and said in a deep voice:

"Tell everyone to take a closer look, what the aliens have done to us, and if we fight in the future, don't patronize yourself and be afraid of death!"

"Think about it, maybe it will be your grandfather and aunt, brothers and sisters who will lie here in the future."

As they walked, they looked around at the collapsed houses, and there were corpses everywhere they looked.

The women were basically unclothed, and they were humiliated before they were killed, and some of them couldn't bear to look at them, and their intestines flowed out.

"What a fucking shit, if only I had come sooner!" Blacktooth roars.

The civil official of Shanzhou, who was in charge of leading the way, took over and said:

"In the past few years, the imperial court has been quelling the war in Liaodong, and the Tubo people saw that the troops here were empty, so they came over to grab a handful if they had nothing to do, especially when the horses were fat in autumn."

"The gates of Longyou cities are closed during the day, and I heard that only when we marry the princess will we be willing to stop the army."

The atmosphere was silent for a moment.

The angry scolding sounded again, what is the national hatred and family hatred, you will know it when you go to the side.

Meng Fan was accustomed to seeing all kinds of scenes, and his heart was full of boundless anger, and he couldn't wait to invite Lei Zu to come to the world and kill this group of Tibetan beasts who exterminated human nature.

It is impossible for the army to gather all in the city, the place is not so large, and most of the soldiers have set up camp outside the city.

The surviving local officials managed to get a batch of cattle and sheep, but the army was somewhat stained with meat.

After all, the specifications of this expedition are very high, the prime minister is here, and the deputy marshal is the head of the household, and the two of them say a few words casually in the center, and the border has to be shaken.

At this time, Meng Fan had no appetite, he always felt that he had done something immediately, otherwise his mind would be undecided.

Inside the camp.

Wang Xiaojie and other intermediate generals, who received his instructions, began to arrange for their subordinates to tell stories.

"Who is Bangu? It's just a book-copying official, hoping to make meritorious contributions to a foreign land to win the Hou Feng, so he put pen to paper and sighed: An Neng has been writing for a long time. ”

The meat was squeaked by the charcoal fire, the smell of oil was overflowing, and the eyes of the soldiers reflected the bonfire, listening intently to the story.

After leaving Dunhuang, marching all the way, seeing the tragic situation in Shanzhou today, all the blood was shocked, especially like to listen to the deeds of the Han family sons and daughters to establish great achievements.

Admire your ancestors and yearn to regain their former glory......

"I compare myself to the Han Dynasty in the Tang Dynasty, and I have never heard of the defeat of the Han army by foreign invaders in the past!"

"Even when there is chaos, the world is divided into three parts, and a corner of the state is still barbarian and dare not invade."