In the middle of the night, Li Jiangyao came to the Drinking Horse Station alone.

When he arrived in Luoyi a few days ago, he and Lian Ji had stayed here, so they had a good understanding of the surrounding situation.

Li Jiangyao was born in the Pegasus scout camp, and he was very familiar with this kind of action of reconnaissance and search, so as soon as he arrived at the place, he first hid in the shadows, and quickly touched it from all directions, and after making sure that there were no ambushes, he came to the dense forest opposite the gate of the post station with confidence, waiting for the other party to appear.

As soon as the third watch arrived, a sound of horses' hooves sounded on the road outside the post station.

Five tall horses, from far and near, galloped over, until they reached the gate of the inn, and then stopped in their steps. The horse's momentum was stopped, and it couldn't help neighing a few times, which seemed particularly loud in the silent night. Li Jiangyao peeked at it, and the knights on the horse were all wearing black cloaks, and at the same time, the hoods were pressed very low, so that they couldn't see their faces clearly.

The one who ran at the front was thin and straight, quite imposing. After looking around, he raised his hand to signal, and when the four people behind him saw this, they all turned over and dismounted cleanly, and as soon as their feet touched the ground, they all pulled out their light folding crossbows from their waists, vigilantly guarding the surroundings.

The man at the head waited a few flicks of his fingers, and then he also left his saddle and walked alone to the door of the inn.

Li Jiangyao observed carefully, and suddenly felt that the other party was very familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before, but he couldn't remember it for a while.

The man was still wrapped in a black cloak, and stood there without saying a word, looking both arrogant and cold. Li Jiangyao saw that there was nothing unusual around, and gently patted Xingluo Knife, and then walked out of the dense forest and appeared in front of the other party.

The man in black followed the prestige to Li Jiangyao, and without waiting for him to speak, he took the lead in laughing loudly: "Brother Jiang Yao, farewell to the western frontier, three years in a hurry, don't come unharmed?" ”

That voice sounded very familiar, Li Jiangyao couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, until the other party took off the hood, he suddenly woke up, and shouted with joy: "Lord Shen?!" ”

The person who came was Shi Shi, Shen Lie, the director of the Beiya Reverse Scale Division.

Shen Lie also had a happy look on his face, walked quickly to Li Jiangyao, stretched out his hands and clasped him tightly: "Brother Jiang Yao, it's really good that you are still alive!" Great! Since coming back from the Western Frontier, Shen has been thinking about you and Metasequoia brothers all the time! ”

Li Jiangyao smiled embarrassedly, and said embarrassedly: "Not only am I alive and well, but I was also canonized as a baron by the Turkic Khan, as the chief criminal officer of the Holy Tang, will you arrest me, a big traitor, and go back and behead me?" ”

"Hahaha-" Shen Lie looked up to the sky and smiled when he heard this: "You are still the same!" Others believe that kind of nonsense, but Shen doesn't believe it! Will you sell your country for glory? ”

Shen Lie looked up at the bright moon in the night sky, his thoughts seemed to have returned to the western frontier of thousands of miles all of a sudden, back to that unforgettable eventful years, he said affectionately: "But if you have seen with your own eyes the scene of you leading 400 iron horsemen, stepping on the enemy's company camp, and beating 40,000 strong enemies running wolf and rat, then it should be very clear that Li Jiangyao will definitely not be a person who surrenders on his knees!" ”

Listening to Shen Lie's words, Li Jiangyao couldn't help moistening his eyes, and while the tears had not yet fallen, he hurriedly joked: "Hey, it's a pity that there is no wine now, otherwise, I will praise you like this, brother, and I will definitely have a drink with you!" ”

"Who says there's no wine?" Shen Lie smiled slightly, greeted behind him, and one of his subordinates stepped forward quickly, untied the skin behind his back, and took out a small wine jar and two cups from it.

He moved neatly, and in the blink of an eye, he slapped open the mud seal at the mouth of the altar and poured two glasses of wine.

Shen Lie stretched out his hand to take the wine glass and said to Li Jiangyao, "How can one cup be enough?" At least three cups! This wine is not only to you, but also to those Shengtang soldiers who are still fighting in the ghost desert of Western Xinjiang! Dry! ”

Li Jiangyao happily raised his glass, drank it all, and then laughed loudly: "People say that you are a terrible living Hades, but who would have thought that the long history of the reverse scale also has such a cute side. Hahaha! ”

Shen Lie smiled and said: "It doesn't really matter what others think of me, as long as you have a clear conscience, that's it!" One more drink."

Li Jiangyao knew very well in his heart that Shen Lie was talking about himself, but he was actually enlightening and comforting him, so that Li Jiangyao did not have to take the matter of the Turkic canonization of the baron to heart.

"I have memorized all these words of Brother Shen, don't worry." Li Jiangyao smiled gratefully, and then asked, "Oh yes, I haven't bothered to ask, how did you know that I came to the Eastern Capital?" ”

When Shen Lie heard his question, he couldn't help but make a surprised expression: "Brother, I just ate this bowl of rice, if I don't even know this little thing, how can I mix it up?" ”

Li Jiangyao couldn't help but laugh and scold, urging him to quickly and truthfully explain where he had exposed his traces.

Shen Lie stopped laughing and introduced seriously: "The old man in your neighbor you saw in Zhishanfang that day is actually the old Wang of the scrivener of my Reverse Scale Siluoyi Branch. He used to be a famous head catcher in Jiangzhou, and he was very good at drawing shadow graphics. At that time, Lao Wang noticed that the two of you were suspicious, so he presented your portrait to me. You know what? Shen was directly taken aback at that time! Isn't this Li Jiangyao? It wasn't until this morning that I specially arranged for people to wait outside the inn and test you with a code, that I finally confirmed that it was really the hero of our Duhu Mansion who had returned. ”

Li Jiangyao was convinced: "The methods of the Reverse Scale Division are indeed worthy of their reputation. It seems that if you do something bad in the future, you will never escape from the palm of your hand. ”

"Don't brag about us." Shen Lie smiled and said, "Jiang Yao, you have been fighting in Western Xinjiang for many years, why did you secretly return to the Central Plains at this time?" How did you get back? ”

Li Jiangyao hurriedly explained: "We have been searching for a long time, and finally found a secret path for medicine pickers in the Qilian Mountains, which can bypass the two levels and reach the territory of Liangzhou. Although the road was not convenient for the army to pass, the messenger was not a problem. The reason why I rushed back in person was that I originally had an extremely important military situation to report to the imperial court, but now because of my embarrassing identity, I am afraid that no one will believe anything. ”

"Oh? What important military intelligence? Shen Lie asked.

"The Turkic Khan Ashina Jin commanded an army of 550,000 into Western Xinjiang, and at the same time gathered 250,000 troops of the Western Xinjiang Alliance, a total of 800,000 soldiers and horses, to attack the two passes and invade Shengtang!"

Shen Lie was taken aback when he heard this, and he couldn't help but be stunned, who had always been as calm as water: "This news...... Is it reliable? ”

"Of course it's reliable," Li Jiangyao smiled bitterly, "Otherwise, can I be beaten into a metasequoia baron by others?" ”

Then, he told the other party about the past after Shen Lie left Western Xinjiang, especially the entry of the Turkic army into Western Xinjiang, and analyzed it in more detail.

The more Shen Lie listened, the more worried he became, and when Li Jiangyao finally stopped after talking for a whole hour, he said in a deep voice: "This time it's a big trouble!" You don't know, Xie Guang suddenly launched a rebellion this time, not only gathered the Xuanjia Legion and the soldiers of the Twelve Prefectures, but also secretly transferred back the Long Knife Army stationed at Shengyu Pass. At the same time, Cheng Kaiyang was unfortunately assassinated, causing chaos in the entire Shengyuguan and Shouchang County. In order to intercept Xie Biao and prevent them from entering the Central Plains smoothly to join Xie Guang, the imperial court ordered the other troops of the Long Knife Legion and the Fierce Blade Army defending Zijin Pass to travel 500 miles in a hurry and cooperate with the local government soldiers in Liangzhou to set up a blocking defense line. Now, the northwest may already be in a mess! ”

"Oh my God! The forces to defend the two levels were already insufficient, and now they are fucking killing each other? Li Jiangyao was shocked: "Once the Turks start a war, this battle will not be fought at all, and it will be completely finished!" ”

Shen Lie bowed slightly: "What's worse is that all the troops that the imperial court can mobilize at present are tied to the area of Mianchi in the east of Luoyi, and it is impossible to deploy the second and third lines of defense in the northwest direction. As long as the Turkic army occupies Zijin Pass and Shengyu Pass, and looks down on the Central Plains from a high position, the imperial capital is like a baby, and there is no resistance at all. ”

Li Jiangyao hurriedly said: "Brother Shen, you must hurry back now and report the enemy situation to the emperor." This matter is related to the safety of the entire Shengtang, and it must not be delayed! ”

Of course I thought so! It's a pity that the matter on Luoyi's side is also related to the safety of the community. Shen Lie frowned: "I came to rescue His Royal Highness the Crown Prince on the secret order of the emperor, but I really don't know which one to take care of first." ”

"Rescue whom? Rescue the Prince? Li Jiangyao was confused: "Isn't the prince preparing to go to war with the imperial court?" …… Do you mean that the crown prince was held hostage by Xie Guang and them? ”

Shen Lie nodded: "And that good brother of yours was also locked up in Ziwei Palace with the prince." ”

"Oh my God, Donggong Zhan Shi is really Murong Xue, what the hell is going on?" Li Jiangyao was completely confused.

Shen Lie knew that Li Jiangyao still hadn't fully understood the current situation, so he patiently told him about the major events that had happened in the imperial capital in the past few years. It also took nearly an hour for Li Jiangyao to gradually digest those earth-shattering changes.

He pondered for a moment and sighed helplessly: "From this point of view, in this big battle in the future, we may lose very badly, ten times worse than Crescent Bay!" ”

"You're right," Shen Lie's face was grim: "Internal and external troubles, dilemma." I now have a deep sense of powerlessness, and I feel that no matter how hard I try, it will be difficult to turn the tide. ”

"No, Brother Shen, don't lose your confidence." Li Jiangyao said: "The fiasco I am talking about is only referring to the early stage of the war, as long as we can grit our teeth and hold on, the final victory will eventually come!" ”

Shen Lie thought that Li Jiangyao said this just to encourage him, so he didn't take it too seriously. He is the kind of hard-hearted person himself, even if he sighs and complains, he will still fight to the end.

After a moment of silence, Shen Lie responded calmly: "Brother, don't worry, Shen will not give up." I haven't asked you yet, did you come to the Eastern Capital Luoyi this time to visit your brother? ”

"No, I didn't know Murong Xue was here before." Li Jiangyao smiled: "I came to Luoyi to find an opportunity to assassinate the prince and Xie Guang. ”