At the same time that the Turkic army attacked the new city of the Khitan old nest, a Tang cavalry was marching silently in the White Wolf Valley, and the horses' hooves were also wrapped in thick linen, hitting the ground, only making a slight rhythmic click, no one was noisy, no one whispered, and marched quickly between the dense woods and straight cliffs.

This cavalry was Li Zhen's 5,000 subordinates, due to the heavy snowfall road closure, they were also forced to rest in Yuguan for more than two months, until the beginning of the spring of the following year, the ice and snow gradually melted, Lou Shide's order was sent to Yuguan, so that Li Zhen led the army to the north, cutting off the Khitan army's northward retreat.

At this time, it was getting late, and they reached the northernmost part of the White Wolf Valley, and there was a fork in the road in front of them, and the guide pointed to the path to the west and said, "General, that path leads to the Rao Le Du Governor's Mansion, that is, the tribal settlement of the Xi people, and the northeast direction is the main road, and you can reach Liucheng by walking all the way." ”

"Then how to go to Miyun?" Li Zhen asked again.

"Both roads are fine, but Miyun is thousands of miles away to the west, so it's better to take the west trail closer. ”

Li Zhen pondered for a moment, then looked up at the surrounding terrain, this area is open, there is a large flat land close to the cliff in the east, the ice and snow have melted, revealing pieces of white boulders on the surface, Li Zhen turned back to the deputy general He Yan Bashou and said: "Let everyone go to the cliff to rest overnight, and set off again tomorrow morning!"

He Yan Bashou nodded, and immediately turned the horse's head to order the cavalry to rest in place, and the cavalry dismounted one after another, led the horses to the leeward cliff to find a place to sit, they fed the horses, and gathered together to drink water and eat dry food.

At this time, Li Zhen asked people to find Jiuzhi, Jiuzhi because of the beheading of Luo Wucheng, Li Zhen gave him this credit, and ordered someone to send Luo Wuquan's head to Youzhou to report the merit, because Luo Wuquan had slaughtered tens of thousands of people in Zhaozhou, he was deeply hated by the imperial court, Wu Zetian listed him as the second war criminal second only to Sun Wanrong, Jiuzhi was also promoted to make a fortune, he was commended by Lou Shidetong ordered the whole army, and he was exceptionally promoted to Lang General, and rewarded 5,000 yuan.

Jiuzhi himself knew that Luo Wuquan had been shot off his horse by Li Zhen with an arrow at that time, and although he was not dead, he had lost his combat effectiveness, and he picked up a big bargain.

Although Li Zhen was willing to give him this credit, many internal guard soldiers were not convinced, so Jiu Zhi handed over 5,000 rewards and distributed them to the cavalrymen, and everyone recognized his merits, and Li Zhen rewarded him with another 1,000 yuan, which was regarded as compensation for him.

Jiuzhi was in charge of patrolling and investigating, and when he heard that Li Zhen was looking for him, he hurriedly ran to receive the order, "Please give orders from the general!"

Li Zhen pointed to the fork in the road ahead and said to him: "You can arrange a few more scouts to go to both sides to investigate the situation, I need to know all the situations within a hundred miles." ”

"Obey!"

Jiu Zhi ran back to wait for him, and at this time, Di Yan, who was dressed in soldier armor, stepped forward and handed the wine jug to Li Zhen, and said with a smile: "Take a sip of wine to keep out the cold!"

At this time, it was the cold of spring, the weather in eastern Liaodong was extremely cold, and the army was not allowed to light a fire to keep warm at night, so each person was equipped with a gourd of spirits, and relied on drinking wine to keep out the cold.

Di Yan has been following Li Zhen for more than two months, and the internal guard soldiers all know her identity, and soon it will spread throughout the army, but she fights bravely, kills the enemy first, trains hard, no less than ordinary soldiers, and has won the respect of the soldiers, and everyone affectionately calls her Di Niangzi.

Li Zhen took the wine gourd and took a big sip of wine, he saw that Di Yan had become dark and thin in the past few months, but her eyes were also bigger, and he couldn't help but feel a little distressed, so he said to her softly: "You go sleep for a while!"

Di Yan shook his head, and whispered to Li Zhen again: "I also want to take a few brothers to the front to investigate the situation. ”

Li Zhen knew that Di Yan was an extremely strong woman, for fear that the soldiers would say that she was a burden to women, so she competed to be the first in everything and never lagged behind others, from last year to this year, she had led the scouts north several times to investigate the situation.

Li Zhen didn't stop her, and he knew that he couldn't stop her, so he turned back to his own military captain Yang Honglie and said, "You take twenty brothers to follow Miss Di north!"

Yang Honglie nodded, "Obey!"

Di Yan was overjoyed, gently shook Li Zhen's hand, and immediately went back to lead the horse, and after a while, several scout teams left the army one after another, galloped north, Di Yan took twenty soldiers, and ran along the trail in the direction of Raole Du's Mansion......

Raolezhou is the territory of the Xi people, and like the Khitan, the Xi people also submitted to the Tang Dynasty, and the king of Xi was named the governor of Raole by the imperial court, but the Xi people's power was far weaker than that of the Khitan, and they actually became vassals of the Khitan, and the same was true of the Xi people in the north, nominally subject to the Tang Dynasty, but in fact controlled by the Khitan.

The previous time Li Quanzhong and this time Sun Wanrong rebelled, the Xi people could not refuse the Khitan's request, and were forced to send 20,000 troops to follow the Khitan south to invade Hebei.

However, the Xi and Xi clans are only the servants of the Khitan army, and they have to do all kinds of hard miscellaneous work, and they must also be in front of the Khitan army in the war with the Tang army, but it is not their turn to deal with weak ordinary civilians, robbing property and women, and other good things, only in the end, when Sun Wanrong is rewarded, they will be allocated a little bit.

At the time of the third watch, Di Yan led twenty internal guard soldiers to go deep into Raolezhou for nearly 100 miles, Yang Honglie was a steady person and experienced in scouting, he stepped forward and said to Di Yan: "Madam, the general has an order, we are patrolling within 100 miles, we can't go forward any further." ”

In the dark night, Di Yan's face was slightly red, Yang Honglie actually called her Mrs., she also knew that Yang Honglie was Li Zhen's personal military captain, and participated in the preparation of her and Li Zhen's marriage, and had a deep experience, so it was reasonable for Yang Honglie to call her Mrs.

She didn't refute, she acquiesced to the title, she looked around, they were located at the foot of a big mountain, to the north is an endless grassland, a large forest dotted among them, a small river meandering on the grassland, Di Yan smiled at Yang Honglie and said: "Captain Yang, this area has abundant pastures, and there are small rivers passing through, I think there should be a tribe of Xi people nearby." ”

At this moment, a soldier pointed ahead and shouted, "Madam, there is a house over there!"

Di Yan looked in the direction of his finger, and saw that there seemed to be a few tents by the small river a few miles away, and the lights could be faintly seen flickering, and Yang Honglie also saw it, so he immediately said, "I'll take a few brothers to have a look." ”

"Captain Yang, don't kill innocents indiscriminately!" Di Yan hurriedly instructed him.

Yang Honglie smiled bitterly in his heart and promised: "I know about my humble position." ”

He waved at the soldiers, "You guys come with me!"

Yang Honglie led a few soldiers to the tent, and Di Yan immediately watched their movements from a distance under a hill, and a quarter of an hour later, a Tang soldier galloped back on horseback, hugged his fist at Di Yan and said: "Madam, it is a family of Xi herdsmen, a woman with three children. ”

Di Yan was a little worried in her heart, urging the horse to run towards the tent, and after a while, she ran to the tent, which was a family composed of three tents, with a horse tied to the tent, and dozens of sheep in the sheepfold, Di Yan just turned over and dismounted, Yang Honglie greeted her, and whispered to her: "Madam, there is only one woman and three children in the tent, and the men in their family seem to have gone to war." ”

Di Yan opened the curtain and walked into the big tent, only to see that the big tent was covered with sheepskin, in the middle was a stove, and an iron pot hung on the wooden frame, the family was obviously not wealthy, only a few boxes, the sheepskin on the ground were broken a few large holes, a dark-skinned young woman sat behind the wooden box in horror, and three children were hiding behind her.

Di Yan stepped forward, squatted in front of the woman and asked, "Are you herdsmen here?"

As soon as she spoke, the horror in the woman's eyes relaxed a little, and she also heard that the Tang Army officer was a woman, she said a few words in a trembling voice, but Di Yan didn't understand, and looked back at a soldier next to her, this soldier was from Liaodong and knew a little about the language of the Khitans, and he said to Di Yan: "She is begging you not to hurt her child." ”

"You tell her that I won't hurt her child, but I want to know, how far is King Xi's tooth tent from here?"

Yang Honglie then understood that the original lady was looking for King Xi's tooth tent, and the soldier translated Di Yan's words to the woman, the woman shook her head and replied a few words, and the soldier said to Di Yan: "She said that King Xi's tooth tent is in the north, and it is at least three hundred miles away from here." ”

Di Yan was a little disappointed in her heart, it seemed that she had nothing to gain from this trip, and at this moment, a soldier walked in quickly and said in a low voice: "Madam, we found traces of soldiers camping not far away, and there is still residual heat in the ashes. ”

Di Yan was shocked, and hurriedly said to the translation soldier: "You ask her, what army passed here?"

The soldier asked a few words, and then said to Di Yan: "Madam, she said that there was an army passing here last night, and there were only more than 20 people, guarding their prince of the Xi clan. ”

Di Yan seemed to see a glimmer of hope in front of her, she heard Li Zhen say that Emperor Li Pi, the king of Xi, had two sons, the eldest son was a Khitan hostage, and he followed the expedition, and the second son stayed in the tooth tent, this second prince should be the prince of the Xi clan should be the second son of King Xi.

Di Yan hurriedly said, "You ask her again, how long have they been walking, and in which direction?"

The soldier asked the woman and said to Di Yan, "She said that she had just been away for an hour and had gone west." ”

From here to the west is the direction of going to Miyun, Di Yan immediately decided: "We will catch up!"

When the day dawned they came to a hilly area, where two soldiers went to the front to investigate the situation, while Di Yan and the other soldiers rested in a wood.

Yang Honglie saw that Di Yan's face was a little pale, so he said in a low voice: "Madame, if you are unwell, let's go back!"

Di Yan waved his hand, "I'm fine, I'm just a little tired, just take a rest." ”

Di Yan longs for freedom and independence in her bones, but she also knows that once she gets married, she will no longer lead the army to run thousands of miles like today, and she will have to stay at home to teach her husband and children, so she cherishes this expedition very much, and wants to do something to leave a little memory for her life.

Since she accidentally discovered the traces of the prince of the Xi clan, this is the opportunity given to her by God, how can she let it go?

Di Yan climbed a big tree, just closed her eyes, she heard the sound of footsteps running, she quickly opened her eyes to take a closer look, only to see that the two soldiers she sent to check the situation came back, she jumped off the tree and asked, "What did you find?"

"Ma'am, we've found a target!" the two soldiers panted.