13 days later, the suburbs of Gulang.

Ma Hao ordered his subordinates to rest in place.

"Brother Shen, isn't it almost to Wuwei, why did General Ma stop?" Ganno asked.

"General Ma and the others." Shen Yue said while lighting a fire.

After Ganye put the kettle in his hand on the fire, he asked, "Who are you waiting for?" ”

Shen Yue smiled mysteriously: "Don't ask, you'll see." ”

Gan Ye stupidly added water to the pot, looking at Gan Ye's bitter gourd face, Gan Yi and Gan Zi looked at each other and smiled, and chewed the dry food in a big gulp.

In the middle of the night, the earth suddenly trembled, slowly becoming violent from mild.

Gan Yi and the three of them were woken up and hurriedly drilled out of the tent to check the situation, only to see a string of sparks suddenly burst out from behind the distant mountain, running towards the station with a thunderous tremor.

It didn't take long for him to rush over, and when he got closer, he found that it was a cavalry team, the horses were unusually strong, and the soldiers were iron-clad and forested, like frost swords crossed by his side, carrying a strong bow, and his eyes were cold.

Fifty paces away from the camp, a whistle sounded, and the war horses stopped sharply in three steps.

When the first general turned over and dismounted, he galloped towards General Ma, bowed his head and said: "The last general, Lin Ling, see the general, and the three hundred cavalry are ordered to make peace, and there is no shortage of one!" ”

General Ma smiled: "Okay, don't be weak, hurry up and rest, and set off tomorrow morning." ”

Lin Ling turned his head and shouted: "Feed the horses in the middle of the night, and rest in place without removing your armor!" "Yes!" The horsemen shouted in unison and began to dismount and rest.

The night is silent again.

Three days later, the Youyi Department arrived in Wuwei County.

Wuwei is the Xiongguan in the northwest, the wall is solid, the southwest is based on the Qilian Mountain, and the east is close to the Tengger Desert, which is the throat of the past dynasties.

Ma Hao led his army into Wuwei City and joined up with the other four troops to settle in the Moze camp.

Che Xiao, the captain of the Moze battalion and the general of the Broken Captives, led the captains of the four departments into the Assassination Mansion to surrender the order.

The current Liangzhou Thorn History is Zhu Liang.

"The generals have been waiting for a long time, and they are being rude, please don't be surprised."

As the voice came, a tall and thin man with a white face and beard walked out of the inner hall.

The five generals arched their hands and said, "See Lord Assassin!" ”

Zhu Liang bowed his hand, sat down on the seat slowly, and said, "Generals don't need to be polite, you can sit too." ”

Five people sit on opposite sides.

Zhu Liang rubbed his hands and said, "The generals should have guessed why I summoned you here, right?" ”

"I wish my lord, summon us here, or the five departments are summoned together, this doesn't need to think about it to know that there is going to be a war, and I think it should be the Qiang people who are making trouble. So this time the first battle must be fought by my cruising department, you are not allowed to rob it, whoever robs me is in a hurry! Ma Hao got up and said loudly.

Che Xiao and the others looked at each other and laughed when they heard this, and Zhu Liang also smiled and said: "Okay, okay, sit down, no one will rob you, let you fight enough this time, I'm afraid you'll be annoyed." ”

As soon as Ma Hao heard this, he immediately said happily: "Don't be annoyed, don't be annoyed, just fight some battles." ”

Zhu Liang waved his hand to sit down.

Che Xiao got up and said: "Now let me tell you about the general situation, the Qiang people invaded Dunhuang in my northwest, Dunhuang is in an emergency, the Qiang people have occupied Xiaogu and Shen'an, and formed a clamping trend on Dunhuang City, Xiaogu divided 600 troops to besiege Dunhuang, Dunhuang City is in danger, the assassin wants us to rush to Dunhuang, annihilate the Qiang people, what do you think, generals? ”

Yang Yan, the lieutenant of Mobei, said: "My subordinates think that Dunhuang is remote and not easy to help, so our department should gather five departments to attack the Qiang people's occupied land, so that the Qiang people have no time to attack Dunhuang, and the siege of Dunhuang will be lifted naturally." ”

Zhu Liang nodded, looked at Ma Hao, who was bowing his head and contemplative, and said, "What does General Ma think?" ”

Ma Hao raised his head and said: "General Yang is reasonable, but I think the five operations are bound to slow down the speed of the march, as far as I know, the Dunhuang soldiers are only three or four hundred, and they are recruited locally, and the combat strength is weak, I am afraid that before they reach Dunhuang, they will fall first, I think that they will be sent in advance, and they will rush to Dunhuang City to strengthen the garrison in the city, and the remaining four will rush to Ming'an, so as to enhance the strength of Dunhuang and speed up the march. ”

Zhu Liang looked at everyone and asked, "What do you think?" ”

There was no objection from the crowd.

"Okay, since you have no objections, so it has been decided, then Ma Hao will lead the cruise department to rush to Dunhuang City, and the remaining four will rush to the aid of Ming'an, and Che Xiao will give the order on my behalf, and set off immediately, without delay!"

"Yes!"

Out of the Assassin's Mansion, Ma Hao returned to the station, and gathered people overnight, everyone was strong and stubborn, and the armor was strong.

Ma Hao sits high on horseback.

"This time to aid Dunhuang, ten days of travel must be seven days to arrive, everyone is lightly traveled, the cavalry and foot soldiers ride the same horse, and set off immediately!"

The three hundred iron horsemen each took a step and turned over their horses and galloped towards Dunhuang, and the sound of horses' hooves was like thunder.

For the sake of secrecy, Ma Hao's troops needed to go north from Yumen to bypass the underworld and then rush south to Dunhuang to participate in the defense of the city.

Therefore, the distance has increased a lot, and it must be reached in seven days, and it can only be done day and night.

Gan Yi and the three of them rode together with Shen Yue, Qin Ben and others as foot soldiers.

It was the first time for the three of them to ride a horse, and they all lay on the horse's back and hugged the horse's neck tightly, and they were stunned.

Before setting off, General Ma told them that they didn't have to participate in the first battle, and they just had to see it for a long time.

But when they first tasted the war, they still felt hairy in their hearts, the battlefield is not a place to laugh, a careless person will be gone if he says no, and his life on the battlefield is like a mustard.

Seven days later, in the evening.

The cruising department arrived at the city of Dunhuang on time, and Cao Lu, the guard of Dunhuang County, personally led the guards to open the north gate to receive reinforcements into the city.

At the same time, Che Xiao led four soldiers and horses to set up camp outside the city and set up a campfire.

Che Xiao stood alone on a small hill next to the tent, looking out at the head of the city of Stygian in front of him.

A amphora sheep's head flag stretches in the wind at the head of the city, and the flagpole splits the sunset in half.

Che Xiao looked at the remnant sun and muttered: "Sheep's head flag, sheep's head flag, you should go to the West Sea to eat water and grass when it's dark." ”

Some of them wore their left hats, sat and bought drunk, gulping down the liquor brewed by the Qiang people, and looked at the bonfires rising outside the city with drunken eyes.

The liquor entered the intestines, and the interest pulled up his throat and sang: "There is no place to return in life and no grave in death, where do the green sheep and green sheep go, the West Sea is poured into the south of the wild goose, where to go and where to go?" Don't ask to drink together and worry about it! ”

Liangzhou is bitter, which means a cold and bitter place, so Liangzhou is good at drinking regardless of men and women.

Qiang people are especially good at making wine, the wine is strong and seals the throat, cutting the intestines like a knife, survives the knife and cuts the mouth and tongue, the lips and teeth are fragrant, the aftertaste is long, there are good things to name the person who is sad, it is very vulgar, but I didn't expect it to spread all over Liangzhou.

Don't look at the officers and soldiers and the Qiang people seem to be incompatible, in fact, each is its own master, and it is not impossible to take care of each other if you have a pot of sorrow in private.

It's the assassination of the history of the house, and you have to be prepared for the sorrow.

General Ma once said to his subordinates: "As soon as you step into Liangzhou, what you smell is not the wind and sand but the smell of wine. ”

However, when this wine left Liangzhou, no one knew the goods, and all the states in the world scoffed at it because of its fierceness.

After drinking the last cup of sorrow, this person fell asleep against the city wall, and the sunset also fell behind the distant mountains, only the fragrance of wine and the wind and sand drifted away. At night, the camp fire was still raging outside the city, and Che Xiaoyang Yan and others in the big tent were in good spirits, surrounding the sand table to deduce the formation.

It is easy to defend and difficult to attack, but after all, it is not a strong city, and it is a matter of time before it is conquered by the four soldiers and horses, even if the Qiang people can attack and defend well, but it will only be delayed by three or two days after the date of attack.

These generals deduced the formation just to achieve victory with minimal casualties.

Liangzhou is located in the northwest, the terrain is complex, deserts, mountains, grasslands crisscross, the generals who grew up in this land have extraordinary command skills.

Not to mention these generals and colonels who have real power, which one of them didn't climb up from the pile of dead people in nine deaths.

Since ancient times, Liangzhou has not lacked bloody men, and after one fight, one bloody man after another has left his body, and the last thing left is the killing god of iron and copper.

At this time, the killing god with the most blood in the big tent said: "Generals, the formation has been deduced twelve times, and the wild goose formation has successfully landed in the city seven times. ”

There will be no objections.

Che Xiao pulled out the arrow and said in a deep voice: "The generals will listen to the order, the north of the desert, the left part of Shanghe, the left part of Hule and the rest of the cruising department are in the center to attack the city, the right part of Shanghe and the right part of Hule are the left and right wings, the Lushan department is in the rear, the left and right wings are negative shields to press the formation, and the rear part bends the bow and shoots hard, mainly attacking the west city gate." The Retreater, Slash! Abandon the soldiers! The one who carries the back is slashed! ”

The generals shouted in unison: "Order! ”

The generals then strode out of the tent.

The big tent was instantly deserted, and Che Xiao stared at the small Ming An on the sand table and was speechless for a long time.

An hour before dawn on the second day.

Che Xiao rode his horse to the front of the army with a torch and said loudly: "Soldiers, I don't need to say more, the military exploits of the sky are on the head of the city of Shen'an, and the Qingyang Banner will be swaggering with the wind in another hour, are you willing to cut the flag with me?" ”

A shot of the word will be under the banner, thousands of people and thousands of faces, thousands of faces and thousands of voices burst out:

"Willing to go!"

Che Xiao turned the horse's head, pulled out his saber and burst out with a low roar: "Attack!" ”

I saw the men and horses in the night rushing forward like a tide, and the cold light of the sword was like a silver-white water wave.

In the midst of the charge, Mobei and other parts slowed down, the left and right wings were quickly inserted, and the tail wings were ready to shoot arrows at any time.

When the geese silently charged to a hundred steps away from the city tower, the originally dark city gate tower suddenly lit up with torches, and the voices of the people were boiling, and the crossbowmen were waiting for them.

When he rushed to fifty paces from the city tower, Che Xiao and the Qiang generals with their left coats gave orders almost at the same time.

The tranquility of the night sky was suddenly pierced by a sharp sound of breaking the air, after a rain of arrows, Che Xiao's casualties were not large, the left and right wings were carrying large shields and other heights, a wave of arrow rain was almost nailed to the big shield, and even the head and tail of the casualties were mixed with a lot of big shields, and the left and right wings and mixed big shields were spliced together to almost block the lethality of the bow and arrows.

Most of the casualties were soldiers carrying ladders, and the most vulnerable archers were unharmed.

The geese slowly advance, and if someone climbs up and looks down, they will find that a wild goose has appeared on the earth, with a wide and thick beak and full wings, as if it is about to spread its wings and flutter.

In Dunhuang City, Ma Hao, Cao Lu and others nervously discussed countermeasures.

On the first day, they received that Che Xiao would attack Ming'an today, and since receiving this letter, a tense atmosphere has been permeating Dunhuang.

Ming'an, Xiaogu, and Dunhuang are connected into a line, Che Xiao began to attack Ming'an, and within two hours, the enemy army in Xiaogu will know that they will definitely take action.

If the guard general is a mediocre talent and goes directly to the rescue of Shen'an, Dunhuang will be a false alarm at most.

But if you do the opposite and attack Dunhuang instead, if you want to resist the Qiang people who can fight well in Dunhuang, it is tantamount to ascending to the sky if you want to resist the Qiang people who can fight well.

On the surface, it means to hold on to Dunhuang City, but it is also like a sharp knife against the Qiang people, ready to go straight to the past and form an encirclement with Che Xiao at any time, so that Xiaogu's troops do not dare to act rashly and reduce the pressure on Che Xiao's siege.

The purpose of the Assassin's Mansion this time is only to recover the lost territory and drive out the Qiang people, so Che Xiao's capture of the Qiang is the top priority, as long as the Immortal is captured, there is no danger to defend the valley, and the Qiang people will inevitably retreat.

At this time, the Dunhuang County Guard Mansion was still brightly lit, and although Dunhuang County Guard Cao Lu had the highest position, he was not good at military affairs, so he handed over the military power to Ma Hao early and was responsible for pacifying the people in the city.

Ma Hao stood in front of the map of Liangzhou and said: "Lord Cao, Dunhuang is now full of troops, and it can be attacked and defended, according to the scout's report, there are 1,000 enemy troops each in Shen'an City and Xiaogu, and Xiaogu is divided into 600 to surround my Dunhuang, and our men and horses must contain the enemy army in Xiaogu." The Qiang people don't know that I have led my troops into Dunhuang, they are very likely to invade Dunhuang, so it is best, if the enemy army does not plan to directly rescue Ming'an, then we must go out of the city to pursue, so when the time comes, whether there is an enemy army attacking the city, we must take action, I will lead the troops to wait and see what happens, my lord, you only need to ensure the stability of the city. ”

Cao Lu nodded and said: "This is very good, the general can rest assured, the affairs in the city will be entrusted to me, there will be no mistakes, I only hate my useless scholar, I hate that I can't go into battle to kill the enemy, and I hope that General Wan will kill a few more thieves for Cao." ”

Ma Hao hurriedly arched his hand and said: "My lord's words are serious, civil officials and military generals have their own duties, and it is the blessing of the people of Dunhuang to do their best every day. ”

Cao Lu said with a smile: "The general is arrogant, then we, the parents and officials of Dunhuang, will go and do our best, and Dunhuang will look forward to the general!" ”

Ma Hao arched his hand and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, please!" ”

After Ma Hao sent Cao Lu and other Dunhuang officials out of the account, it was already dawn time to patrol the camp.

He turned around and turned to the barracks where Shen Yue was, and saw Gan Yi and the three of them playing and washing, he beckoned and called the three of them over and asked, "There is going to be a war today, are you afraid?" ”

Gan Ye hurriedly replied: "Don't be afraid, the old soldiers in the camp have said that if you are afraid of dying quickly, you will have to eat meat and silver if you are not afraid!" ”

Ma Hao was surprised: "Which rabbit cub said this, it's very good, but he is half right, not only is he afraid that he will not only have meat to eat and silver to take, but also to ask for a good daughter-in-law." ”

After saying that, he looked at Ganno with a wicked smile.

Gan Ye didn't react for a while, Gan Yi and Gan Zi looked at each other and smiled, Gan Yi said: "You don't understand this, General Ma said that as long as you don't scare your soft legs today, I will ask you for a daughter-in-law!" ”

"Hey, hey, what nonsense, you're a rabbit cub who's not too big or small." Ma Hao patted Gan Yi's head and said.

At this time, Gan Ye reacted and tilted his head and asked, "General Ma, can you find me someone who can do my laundry?" ”

Hearing this, Gan Yi and Ganyi smiled and leaned back, only General Ma said with a dark face: "Find you a fart, and you want to find someone to do your laundry?" Don't dream, this lazy disease will be cured, and my clothes will be washed by you in the future! ”

Gan Ye was dumbfounded when he heard this, and hurriedly hugged Ma Hao's thigh and howled: "General Ma, I was wrong, I will never dare to do it again, I will never ask you for a daughter-in-law again, you can spare me, please." ”

Ma Hao's face darkened even more when he heard this, and he kicked Gan Ye away, stared at the two of Gan Yi who were snickering, and said, "What are you laughing at?" You're all very happy, that's okay, I'll make you happier, and you three will wash my clothes in the future! ”

After saying that, he left without looking back.

This time, the three of them were dumbfounded, looking at each other.

When Ma Hao passed by Shen Yue, he whispered without a trace: "You take them with you." ”

Afterwards, we went to other barracks.

At dawn, the head of the city was still planted with the green sheep flag.

The city was unexpectedly difficult to attack, and the men with hair at the head of the city realized that the bows and arrows with a wide range of damage were almost useless to the officers and soldiers only after the first encounter, and then decisively withdrew the archers and replaced them with crossbowmen.

The Qiang people have been nomadic for a long time and are good at shooting, not to mention the crossbow with the hope of the mountain, so the crossbow is basically where to fight, although the speed of the string is much slower than the bow, but a crossbow to break the shield still has the strength to shoot the sergeant.

For a time, Che Xiao's attack was blocked, so the stalemate reached the time when the two sides suffered casualties on both sides, and most of the siege soldiers were exhausted, so in desperation, Che Xiao ordered to stop the siege, giving the Qiang people a respite.

At this time, in the Che Xiao tent, the three generals fought for red-faced, no one thought that the Qiang people would have crossbowmen, and the imperial court strictly ordered the crime of secretly hiding crossbow arrows to conspire against them, but the Qiang people actually had such a large number of crossbow arrows, which shows how arrogant the Qiang is.

Although it is not an official crossbow, the power is still not to be underestimated, and the Qiang people are obviously prepared.

At this time, there was a disagreement between attacking and not attacking, Deng Jue and Shen Tishan generals thought that they should bypass the underworld and first fight the undefended Xiaogu and then rendezvous with the Dunhuang defenders to turn back to attack the underworld, Yang Yan thought that the underworld was not broken like a thorn in the back, and attacking Xiaogu was tantamount to a sheep entering the tiger's mouth, as long as Xiaogu was not captured in time, it would be a situation of being attacked by the enemy in the abdomen.

The two factions have different opinions, and it is difficult to distinguish between them.

Che Xiao's eyes moved away from the map of Dunhuang County and said: "The Qiang must be captured, once you give up the Shadow and turn to attack the valley, you will fall into the trap of thieves, and the Qiang people who grew up on horseback in the plain area are tantamount to self-inflicted humiliation, only by capturing the Qiang can you suppress the Qiang rebellion, you don't have to fight anymore, I have made up my mind, I have ordered the three armies, and then attack at the right time!" ”

At this time, Dunhuang was no longer calm, almost after Ma Hao had just finished inspecting the barracks, there were scouts to report, and the Qiang people were coming, ten miles away.

Ma Hao quickly assembled soldiers and horses, the original Dunhuang 300 foot soldiers are all Dunhuang county guards recruited on the spot, used for city defense, embarrassed to use, responsible for carrying arrows, rolling wood and stones, etc., the city also has to be 600 people from the Youyi Department to hold on, and the soldiers of the Youyi Department are waiting for the battle.

Ten miles are fleeting.

Ma Hao saw the horses raising dust, the Qiang people all distributed, whistling, before reaching a hundred steps, the Qiang people sat firmly in the saddle, bent the bow and arrows, and threw a rain of arrows by the momentum of the war horse.

Rushing to fifty paces was a rain of arrows with a more powerful bow.

After shooting this wave of arrows, the Qiang people did not take advantage of the momentum to attack the city, but tacitly turned the horse's head and accelerated away.

After the defenders had dodged the arrows, the Qiang had already withdrawn from the range of the bow and arrows, and after charging three times, the Qiang people did not move again, and the firemen began to build a fire.

Ma Hao stood at the head of the city and pulled out the arrows shot at the pillar one by one, and said to Shen Yue beside him: "The Qiang people only drag but not attack, and the number is only six hundred horses, and the remaining four hundred horsemen in Xiaogu will not let Che Xiao hurt his muscles and bones for a while." These 600 horsemen just want to drag down the Dunhuang defenders, but they don't know that the Dunhuang defenders are not a rabble of 300, and they want me to only defend and not attack? If there is no such cheap thing, the order will go down and attack the camp tonight! ”

Shen Yue said in a deep voice: "Yes! ”

At the end of the day, Che Xiao led his troops to attack the city again.

On the desk of Che Xiao's tent, a piece of paper, pen and ink have not dried: I can't settle down, come and see you!

The wild goose array advanced slowly, inch by inch of soil and blood, and finally attacked the city after half an hour, the cloud ladder rose, the shield guard opened the way, and climbed the cloud ladder to the head of the city, which was extremely difficult.

The Qiang people are vicious, and when the soldiers climb halfway to the halfway point, they throw the rolling wooden stones, and the soldiers on the ladder are smashed and are drenched in flesh and blood.

Such a stalemate until the hour of the sea, both sides were tired, to the point of running out of oil and lamps, at this time the city head corner suddenly attacked a group of Mobei military troops, killed the city tower, and finally broke the Qiang defense.

The Qiang people were in chaos all of a sudden, and the soldiers under the city took the opportunity to climb the ladder, and the situation changed suddenly in an instant.

Seeing that the general trend had gone, the Qiang people abandoned the city and fled south.

The Qiang general stepped out of the city wall, whistled and landed on the horses that heard the sound, and hurried south.

Seeing this, Che Xiao shouted: "Bring the bow!" ”

Hand the bow left and right, Che Xiao took the bow and arrows, stepped on the city, pulled the bow like the autumn moon, and the arrows shot like stars, shooting towards the people who went south.

The man on the horse seemed to be aware of it, bent down and grabbed the stirrup and hung it under the horse's belly, and after a while, he turned over and wrapped his feet around the horse's reins, bent his knees and stepped on the horse's back to make an overlord's shape, and a carved arrow shot back at the head of the city.

Che Xiao lowered his head to dodge under alertness, the long arrow cut off the crown and fell to the ground, Che Xiao stood up straight with his hair scattered, watching the Qiang man with the arrow on his shoulder leaving.

The guard who handed the bow looked at Che Xiao in a daze, and suddenly felt that the two men with disheveled hair had become one person.