Li Jiangyao and the others did not delay much on the road, as soon as they passed the Xiao Pass, several people sped up their speed, along the Yongzhou official road to the west, seven or eight days passed in a flash, and finally successfully entered the boundary of Liangzhou.

Zhou Xing asked Li Jiangyao if he wanted to take a detour and go to the Tibetan Army Valley where He Jingming was killed, and pay respects by the way. Because he was also one of the attachés who accompanied Shen Lie to Zijin Pass and exchanged Turkic princesses, he knew the way to the Tibetan Army Valley.

Li Jiangyao thought about it, and finally refused.

That place, he still doesn't want to go, and he can't go.

As for why, not only Zhou Xing didn't understand, but even he himself didn't understand.

Perhaps, it's to be strong.

Li Jiangyao comforted himself like this.

Declining Zhou Xing's kindness, they continued to follow the Silk Road trade route to the west, until they stopped on the banks of the Shuhe River, not far from Zijin Pass.

According to the local villagers, a big battle took place here not long ago.

Both sides of the war were the Saint Tang army.

On Xie Guang's orders, the Long Knife Army, which intended to secretly return to the Central Plains to participate in the rebellion, was intercepted by the Liangzhou soldiers here. Subsequently, the remnants of the Blade Legion rushed in to reinforce and joined the blockade.

The soldiers and horses of the two sides set up positions on the north bank of the Shu River and clashed fiercely.

The battle lasted five days and five nights, and there was no winner or loser. Whether it is Xie Biao's long knife elite, or the iron-blooded fierce blade and the Liangzhou Mansion soldiers, the soldiers on both sides are exhausted and lose their sharpness, you can't eat me, I can't gnaw you.

Just when the two sides were at a stalemate, the Turkic vanguard army suddenly arrived.

After breaking through the Zijin Pass, where the strength was empty, their iron cavalry did not stop for a moment, and directly and quickly crossed the guard posts of the two armies of the Holy Tang Dynasty, and appeared on the Shuhe battlefield without warning.

The Turks showed their hideous faces and carried out indiscriminate attacks on both warring sides. Anyone under the banner of the Holy Tang Army, whether it is a long knife or a fierce blade, will be killed!

In the face of a formidable enemy, the Shengtang soldiers raised their last remaining strength and launched a desperate resistance on the spot. The commander of the Blade Legion even shouted to the Long Knife Army on the other side: Brothers are of the same heart, first unite with the outside world!

However, it was too late.

The disparity in the strength of the enemy and us was too great, and the Shengtang soldiers and horses suffered huge losses because of the fierce battles and repeated battles, so they could not form a joint force at all, and they could not escape the doom of the annihilation of the entire army after all.

In the thrilling battle, the Shengtang side lost a total of nearly 100,000 horses, and the entire Shuhe River was dyed red with blood.

The villagers' narration was like a thousand catties of boulders, and it weighed heavily on the hearts of Li Jiangyao and others. Looking at yesterday's battlefield, the entire 100,000 army, all of which were the elite of the dynasty, was it so sacrificed in vain?

This place is completely different from Crescent Bay.

Although the losses of the main force of the Zhenjiang Protectorate and the Fierce Blade Army were greater than those in the Battle of Shuhe, the fiasco of Crescent Bay was due to a misjudgment of the situation and the negligence of the intelligence system. But in any case, fighting the rebels and resisting the Turks, after all, 150,000 soldiers went to the trouble for the country and died well.

Their loyal souls have no regrets.

And what about the Shuhe battlefield? If the people who died here in the war had spirits in heaven, would they really be willing?

They were not defeated by the enemy, but destroyed at the hands of their own people!

If it weren't for Xie Guang's selfish desires, those hot-blooded men who were not afraid of death would have been united and stationed in the two defense lines to give the incoming enemy a head-on blow!

Even, if there was no rebellion in the imperial capital at the beginning, the Zhenjiang Protectorate, the Fierce Blade Legion, the Long Knife Legion, the Xuanjia Legion, and the Qilin Legion, the five main forces were all there, and the 600,000 elites were exhausted, and the Turks would not dare to move the slightest thought of attacking the Holy Tang!

However, what is suffocating is that the trend of history is often only in the hands of a very small number of people, and people's hearts are not ancient, and heaven and earth are collapsing.

Li Jiangyao stood on the bank of the Shuhe River, staring at the clear water that had long been restored, and was speechless for a long time.

"Your Excellency, it's time to go."

Zhou Xing's voice sounded behind him. Li Jiangyao sighed lightly, collected his extremely heavy heart, turned his head to Zhou Xing and smiled lightly: "Go further, it won't take more than a day to reach the General's Temple." That town was originally the base camp and military exercise ground of the Zhenjiang Protectorate. To tell you the truth, when I first came out of the Imperial Capital Yanwutang, I stayed there for a long time, and the happiest and most pleasant memory of my life was stored there. ”

Zhou Xing had heard before that the military town called the General's Temple had been razed to the ground by the Turkic iron horseman, and at this time, when he heard Li Jiangyao suddenly mention it, he couldn't help but feel a little sad in his heart: "My lord, let's ...... Would you like to go over and have a look? ”

"No need!" Li Jiangyao said in a relaxed tone: "People, you have to look forward." Some things, let go, it's better than carrying them all the time. ”

The more he said this, the more upset Zhou Xing felt. For a moment, no one knew what to say to the young adult in front of them.

Li Jiangyao saw that Zhou Xing and the others were silent, and then smiled: "Hey, do you know? I used to like the girls in that town very much, many of them were of mixed blood from Shengtang and Western Xinjiang, and they were very beautiful, with fair skin and slender thighs. When I'm not training, I often go with Murong Xue and Xu Youchang to peek at other people's baths, and for this reason, I am chased and beaten by the villagers with big sticks, hahaha. ”

Zhou Xing heard what he said interestingly, and also laughed: "Speaking of this, I want to ask, do you have a family?" ”

Li Jiangyao waved his hand: "No." I am a poor bachelor with no tomorrow today, how can I be qualified to marry a wife and have children? Do you think they are like my two brothers? After a meritorious general, the son of the richest man in Bashu, hey, if I have their conditions, ten or eight big girls will have already entered the door. ”

"Your Excellency is too modest." Zhou Xing said with a smile: "With your skills and identity, it's not easy to find a family?" I think eighty percent of adults are too picky. ”

Li Jiangyao grinned and said, "Master Ben has a lot of skills, but where is his prominent identity?" ”

Zhou Xing shook his head: "Why not?" You are the personal disciple of Commander He, when it comes to seniority in the army, how many adults in the Fierce Blade Legion and the Zhenjiang Protectorate have to come up and shout senior brother when they see you. Moreover, the adults are fighting alone and sticking to the western frontier, and with their merits and strength, they are no longer matched by a mere captain, and even if they are crowned marquis and worship the prime minister in the future, it will be just around the corner. Alas, it's a pity that the sisters in the lowly family are all married, otherwise I really want to have a relative with you. ”

"Fuck off!" Li Jiangyao couldn't help but laugh and scolded: "You kid don't play poor with me here." Let's go quickly, let's go straight to Zijin Pass today, I can't wait to go back to Xijiang for a moment! ”

Jin Ge iron horse is grandiose, thousands of miles of rivers and mountains. Hu Di Xiao Se passed on his old friends, and the wind and clouds were only Zijin Pass.

Zijin Pass, a fortress on the Silk Road Trade Road, has been a melting point of Eastern and Western civilizations since ancient times, as well as a dividing line between these two different worlds.

The water and milk are blended, but they are distinct.

It stands to reason that as a soldier of the Holy Tang Dynasty, when looking west from Zijin Pass, he often has a wonderful feeling of peeking at the exotic customs, but I don't know why, Li Jiangyao looked at the vast western frontier at this time, but instead had the illusion that he was about to return to his hometown.

He knew in his heart that it wasn't entirely a delusion.

The inexplicable sense of closeness is because of the city in the distance. Where ideals and beliefs are firmly adhered to, people often feel more intimate.

At this time, the traces of the war can be seen everywhere in Zijin Pass.

The collapsed arrow tower, the collapsed city wall, and the speckled arrow holes shot by feather arrows on the buildings all tell people the tragedy that this Xiongguan has just experienced.

The ruins and broken walls have diluted the solemn atmosphere of the past, and they have lost their grandeur in the past.

The Silk Road that runs through this place has also lost the bustle and prosperity of the past. On the east-west avenue, there are only a few business travelers from far and near, which is particularly deserted.

A group of tall Turkic warriors lined up on both sides of the pass, interrogating pedestrians.

Li Jiangyao instructed Zhou Xing to take care of the goods, and he walked forward quickly to negotiate with the Turks. As soon as he opened his mouth, it was a standard and pure Turkic language, and he instantly narrowed the distance between him and the other party. The Turkic soldiers were obviously curious and affectionate about the young man in front of them because of their common language.

After some nonsense blowing in the vast sky and the sky, Li Jiangyao bluffed the Turks so lightly that the other party not only did not have the slightest question, but also enthusiastically cleared the customs and showed the way.

In this way, Li Jiangyao and the others passed the Zijin Pass smoothly without any danger and officially entered the western frontier.

In the next ten days, the group traveled westward, passing through many towns and villages of the vassal kingdom along the way, and what they saw and heard was completely beyond their imagination.

Today's situation in Western Xinjiang is unexpectedly bad, but it is also unexpectedly good.

The first thing that caught Li Jiangyao's attention was the change of the governor of Western Xinjiang.

The original governor of Western Xinjiang was the famous Turkic marshal and the Prince of the Temple, Ronia. This general, who commanded the Battle of Crescent Bay, swept through the ghost desert of Western Xinjiang, and blocked the north and south passes, had already led his troops and horses at this time to march east with Ashina. He was succeeded by Gema Khan, the patriarch of the Yelun clan, one of the eight pillars of the Turks.

At the same time, he was also the commander of the Yakutia Separate Regiment.

The Yelun tribe is the second largest Turkic force after the Golden Tribe, with a large population, and has always dominated the Yakutia steppe on the western continent, and its strength should not be underestimated.

In that year, the Turkic Empire broke out in a tragic royal war, and the first to stand up and challenge the ruling tribe Blood Wolf Clan was the Night Wheel. Although it was the Golden Clan that completely defeated the Blood Wolf and became the ultimate victor in that Great War, the contribution made by the Yelun Clan army was still recognized by the leaders of various tribes, including Ashina Zhijin.

Since then, the Golden Clan and the Night Wheel Clan have become a blood alliance.

The Golden Tribe gave the Night Wheel Clan full preferential treatment, not only giving the most fertile steppe of the Yakutia to the Night Wheel forever, but also continuing their tradition as the descendants of the imperial family, allowing the eldest prince Chili to marry the daughter of Gema Khan, and the two became in-laws.

In this way, it is equivalent to creating convenient conditions for the development and growth of the Night Wheel Clan.

In the same way, the night wheel reciprocated, and always followed the footsteps of the ruling tribe and watched over each other.

However, just two years ago, things took a subtle turn.