Early in the morning, Xue Bai woke up in the tent, lifted the curtain and saw that it was foggy outside.

It was not the gray haze he had ever seen, but a dreamy fog that permeated from the primeval forest, hazy and hazy, making the forest like a fairy country.

The composition of the miasma is complex, and the most affected is malaria caused by the bites of various poisonous insects, and now in October, there is also a miasma formed by the feces of various corpses.

Xue Bai has been able to figure out the pattern of the formation of some smoke miasma, the dew is heavy at night, the poisonous gas sinks, and when the temperature rises during the day, the poisonous gas rises. According to the officials who have been to Nanzhao, they often can't see things in the early morning, and they must wait until noon when the smoke miasma dissipates, and they must close the doors and windows when they sleep at night, and they must not take off their clothes to prevent the smoke miasma from invading, and if they get up early and hurry, they must eat enough or drink more to resist, otherwise they are easy to get sick.

With this reason, he asked Nalan Zhen to order another march later, delaying the time to meet more Tubo and Nanzhao officers and soldiers.

He had chosen a sandy beach when he camped last night. And let the soldiers cut more firewood, light a bonfire, and prepare large leaves to fan the wind. After he got up, he didn't let Li Fei Yuanli order the march, but let the soldiers roast and rest around the bonfire.

For fear of revealing flaws, no one spoke, and the oppressive atmosphere caused by this habitual silence was the biggest blow to the morale of the military. Xue Bai did not encourage the soldiers to speak, but he calmly learned the Tubo language from Li Fei Yuanli.

"It's called 'Da Ge Lang Hou Mountain', what does '崀' mean?"

Li Fei Yuanli scratched his head and said, "I don't know, it's probably the mountain, Bai Man's language is somewhat close to the Chinese dialect, except for some words." ”

Xue Bai said in Tubo: "I heard that the six edicts are difficult to govern, partly because of the language barrier, the barbarians are scattered and live in the mountains and forests, among which the white barbarians and Mengshe edicts have languages, so Tang chose to support Mengshe edicts?" ”

Li Fei Yuanli was a rough man and didn't know much about these things, but he was very interested in how to conquer the Six Edicts, and he thought seriously about it when he heard it.

Gongjiezan walked over at this time and shouted in a condescending tone: "Why can't you afford it?!" ”

"The princess did not command."

Xue Bai responded, his gaze skimmed over Gongjiezan, and looked at Paga who was following behind.

Paga was secretly observing Xue Bai, and felt that this "Li Qian" did not look like a slave, but had the momentum of the great minister, like a Tang court official, so he thought, why would a Tang court official appear next to the princess? Where did the original Minister of Guardianship go?

A bold idea popped into his head, and Paga was terrified...... The next moment, the two looked at each other.

Xue Bai's eyes seemed to be able to see through people's hearts, and Paga subconsciously dodged his eyes, unconsciously shrugging his shoulders out of fear.

"Slaves." Gong Jiezan said to Xue Bai, "It's not your turn to speak here. ”

Xue Bai actually smiled when he heard the word "cheap slave", and Paga inexplicably felt that he was smiling at himself.

Nalan Zhen came out of the tent and asked, "What's the matter?" ”

Gongjie praised, "Princess, it's time for us to leave. ”

Nalan Zhen didn't answer immediately, but looked at Xue Bai's face. She knew that Xue Bai's plan was nothing more than to break up these Tubo people and buy time for the Tang army to sneak attack Taihe City. However, Tang Jun was not familiar with the roads, and if she could have arrived at the camp in Tibet earlier, she might have a chance to stop it.

Knowing that Xue Bai didn't want to leave as soon as possible, she tested his bottom line and pretended to hesitate: "But ...... All right. ”

"Let's go." Gongjiezan immediately turned his head and shouted to his corporaries.

After looking at it again, he saw that the more than 60 people who were guarding the princess to the south did not move, and immediately scolded angrily: "The princess has ordered, and you still don't get up?!" ”

Xue Bai said: "Why do you want to force the princess? ”

As soon as he finished speaking, Lifei Yuanli stood up, walked behind Nalan Zhen, and glared at Gong Jiezan with a knife in a protective posture.

Gongjie was surprised: "Am I reluctant to be a princess?" ”

"Princess." Li Fei Yuanli asked, "Is he barely alive?" ”

Nalan Zhen said: "Yes." ”

"Princess, how are you!" Gongjiezan stomped his feet in anger.

Only then did Xue Bai speak, "Princess, why don't you wait until noon, when the smoke miasma clears, and then set off?" ”

"Okay."

Nalan Zhen turned around, walked to the side, talked to Xue Bai in a low voice, and suddenly ordered: "Bring that slave named 'pig', I think he is quite clever and follows me outside my tent." ”

When Paga heard this, he couldn't help but shudder, and hurriedly said, "I'm a great person." ”

"Doesn't it work for the princess to talk?" Li Fei Yuanli shouted, and asked people to come over and bring Paga to his side.

After a while, through the thick fog, the sound of horses' hooves could be heard in the distance. According to the report, the Nanzhao officials who were waiting upstream to greet the Tubo princess had arrived.

Nalan Zhen was pleasantly surprised in her heart, secretly thinking that she finally didn't let a vicious person like Xue Bai get her wish this time. If he can get out a little, he can let Gong Jiezan and the officials of Nanzhao work together to defeat this small group of Tang troops.

The sound of horses' hooves "clicked", and it was not in a hurry, and a team slowly passed through the fog.

Xue Bai stood by the campfire and watched, thinking that they deserved to get the plague in such a hurry.

Li Fei Yuanli walked up to him and said in a low voice: "There are nearly 100 people in total, twenty or thirty people with bows and swords, more than fifty servants, and more than ten officials. ”

"Got it."

~~

Over there, Gong Jiezan had already greeted him and asked in Tubo, "General Yang, why are you here?" ”

"I was absent two days ago, and when I learned that the princess was going to cross the river downstream, I hurried here."

"General Yang has a heart...... Princess, this is General Yang Luoding of Nanzhao. ”

"General Yang has worked hard all the way." Nalan Zhen deliberately took a small step forward, avoiding the Tang sergeant behind her, and asked, "Since you know that there is a ferry downstream, why don't you arrange someone to guard it?" ”

"The princess doesn't know anything." Yang Luoding said: "It looks like you can cross the river there, but it is very dangerous, if it is washed away by the river, the downstream is full of cliffs, there is no place to go ashore, there is only a big whirlpool called 'sinkhole', passing ships want to approach, they will be sucked into the whirlpool." ”

"It's so dangerous." Nalan Zhen patted her chest and said, "Fortunately, I didn't meet when I crossed the river yesterday, but I don't know what happened to the soldiers and horses who escorted me south?" ”

As she spoke, she rolled her eyes and glanced at Xue Bai demonstratively.

Xue Bai didn't pay attention to this frivolous provocation.

Although he is not a local, he has been to the Jinsha River once or twice in his previous life due to work, and he is specifically to see these ferries of "Jinsha Water Shooting Cloud Cliff Warmth", Longjie Ferry, Hongmen Ferry, Kyaukping Ferry, and Qiaojiadu. Because of this, he dared to give advice to Wang Zhongsi, the place where Wang Zhongsi crossed the river yesterday is not a ferry now, and after the Song and Yuan dynasties, it gradually became the Longjie crossing, and it is not easy to cross if it is not good, but with the leather bag, it is natural to speed up the time for the Tang army to cross the river and avoid being swept away.

It's just that when he crossed the river, Xue Bai had already left with Nalan Zhen, and he didn't see if the subsequent river crossing was smooth.

As for Yang Luoding of Nanzhao, it must not be that he was absent two days ago, but that he was eager to see the heavy casualties of the Tubo army, so he took the opportunity to lend the boat to them to cross the river.

The three parties meet, each with its own thoughts.

"If the princess is worried." Yang Luoding said: "Do I arrange more boatmen to ......?"

"No need." Xue Bai didn't wait for Na Lanzhen to answer, and stepped forward and said, "The princess has to rush to Langqiong to see the prime minister, so there is no need to delay." ”

Yang Luoding asked, "Who are you?" ”

"The slave next to the princess, Li Qian."

Yang Luoding didn't understand why a princess of Tubo who came to marry would bring a handsome man by her side, not to give Nanzhao face?

Gong Jiezan rolled his eyes and said, "General Yang, you have come all the way, how about you come to my tent to rest first?" ”

That's it...... Princess, let me retire for a while. ”

Xue Bai waited for them to leave, and immediately asked Deji Medo to take Nalan Zhen back to the tent. He deliberately followed Gong Jiezan and Yang Luoding for a few steps, listening to their conversation.

"Even the princess can see that even if Nanzhao is strong and clear, the key river crossing points should be guarded."

"The barbarians live in the mountains and forests, and there is nothing to lead, how can they guard it? It doesn't matter, the upper and lower passes have already been built, and the Tang army can't attack them......"

The two of them gradually walked away, and Xue Bai couldn't hear the words later.

He stopped, thinking that the "Shangguan" and "Xiaguan" should refer to the "Longshou Pass" and "Longwei Pass".

But before leaving Chang'an, he did not see any traces of the existence of these two guancheng on any official document of the imperial court, and he even asked Li Linfu, Zhang Qiu and Qiong, and Xian Yu Zhongtong, but they did not know that there were these two passes.

"We're about to be exposed." Li Fei Yuanli asked in a low voice, "It's better to strike first, right?" ”

Xue Bai nodded and muttered, "It's not that we've been exposed, it's that they'll definitely get rid of me." ”

He found that the identity he pretended to be at the beginning this time was wrong, and it was too easy to arouse the disgust of officials from both Tubo and Nanzhao.

It's just that he is considered the head of the face in Chang'an, and he also plays the role of the head of the face in Nanzhao, which may be the ...... Xue Bai shook his head and quickly withdrew his mind.

When he turned his head again, he saw Paga standing by with an uneasy expression.

~~

Yang Luoding walked into the tent and immediately asked, "Who is the man next to the princess?" ”

Gongjiezan did not answer.

There are some things that are clearly like that, and there is no good answer to them.

He groaned and said, "For the sake of Tubo and Nanzhao, you and I will kill him, how about it?" ”

"A slave, you killed it is the sincerity of Tubo." Yang Luoding said lightly, "What is it if I kill?" ”

"I'm a courtier of Tibet, the princess didn't give orders, so it's hard for me to do it." Gongjie praised: "I mean, secretly killed. Is there a narrow road from here to the Wave Dome that is suitable for hands-on? ”

"Yes."

The two agreed, and the time was noon, and the fog-like miasma gradually dissipated. The team set off and headed northwest towards the Wave Dome.

When camping overnight, Yang Luoding sensed that something was wrong with the princess of Tubo, so he found Gong Jiezan and asked, "Don't you think that the princess seems to be controlled by someone?" ”

"How can she be controlled?" Gong Jiezan smiled bitterly, "You don't know our princess, she has been strong since she was a child, and she treats me as a fake color." ”

Yang Luoding's feelings were completely different.

He thought about it until the dead of night, and finally decided to find out the matter tomorrow, so that he could rest assured.

After a day's journey, he fell into a deep sleep until a cry came.

"Help!"

"Help!"

The man would speak Tibetan, and he would speak unfamiliar Chinese.

Yang Luoding rolled over and hurried outside the tent, looking at the light of the bonfire, a bloody figure was desperately running towards this side.

The two guards guarding outside his tent hurriedly rushed up to stop him.

Yang Luoding quickly recognized that this was the confidant of the Tubo Prime Minister, who had waited for the princess together and knew each other.

At the same time, there was a sudden scream in the camp, and it was the Tubo soldiers who were wantonly slashing and killing the sleeping Nanzhao soldiers.

Yang Luoding was furious and shouted for his subordinates to rise up and resist, but the camp was already in chaos, some people shouted "kill the Tubo people", and some people shouted "kill the Nanzhao people", and the situation was like hell.

The situation could not be recovered, Yang Luoding gritted his teeth, left his subordinates, and only led a few people to escape.

The two guards also left the wounded man in their hands and were about to leave, but the wounded man shouted: "Help, I know, what's wrong!" ”

"What's going on?" Yang Luoding turned his head and asked.

"Li Qian beside Princess Tubo is a Tang dynasty worker." Paga said: "He seduced the princess to assassinate the prime minister and prevent Tubo from forming an alliance with Nanzhao." When I found out, he wanted to kill me......"

"Take him away!"

Yang Luoding knew that Pajia was an important witness to prevent Nanzhao and Tubo from being separated, so he didn't have time to say more, so he ordered someone to take Pajia and retreat decisively.

They took their horses, and when they left the camp, there were only five men left, and then arrows came and struck the three Nanzhao soldiers who were left behind. Yang Luoding looked back and saw Paga trembling on horseback, so he hurriedly grabbed his reins and fled quickly.

You must rush to Taihe City as soon as possible and inform Nanzhao Wang Ge Luofeng of this matter.

……

In the dark night, someone was staring at Yang Luoding's movements, and when they saw him turn to the south, they quickly chased after him.

The fighting in the camp continued, and dozens of figures left the place one after another.

After creating a chaotic situation in which the Tubo people and the Nanzhao people killed each other, the Tang army no longer cared about how the camp ended.

~~

It's dawn again.

Nalan Zhen was tied to the campfire and watched the sunrise in the sky. The sun shone on the tidal flats of Jin Shao on the riverside, and suddenly she felt that it was blood.

When Xue Bai woke up and walked past her, she asked without looking back.

"You know I want to use Yang Luoding to deal with you, so you kill him first?"

"You're naïve." Xue Bai replied casually.

He was holding a clairvoyant mirror and was looking at the terrain.

"Gongjezan...... Is he dead? ”

"I don't know." Xue Bai said: "It's not important, otherwise we will deliberately send someone to get rid of him first." It's good that he wasn't smart enough to see the truth. ”

Nalan Zhen sneered, "Are you warning me that if I'm too smart, I'll die easily?" ”

Xue Bai said: "I'm not warning you. ”

"Are you going to rush to join the Tang Army?" Nalan Zhen said: "I didn't go to Langqiong, the prime minister will definitely understand what happened and send troops to attack the Tang army." It is possible that Tubo would not have participated in the Nanzhao War, but now that you are enraged, what you have done has only added fuel to the fire. ”

"Do you know why I kept you alive?"

"You want to use me as a hostage all the time. But I'm telling you, I'm not going to let you use it anymore, I'd rather die than be a tool of your evil spirit again. ”

"You're not as valuable as you think you are." Xue Bai said: "You also saw it last night, it is not difficult for the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty to defeat you. I kept your life because I thought we could cooperate in the future. ”

"Huh." Nalan Zhen sneered.

The country hates family hatred, she doesn't think there is any possibility of cooperating with him, if there is a day when she escapes from the clutches of the devil, she will only kill him with one sword.

"Then you tell me, who among the nine ministers colluded with the Tang court and betrayed Tibet."

"I'll tell you when I capture Taihe City and let you go."

"You lied to people, you just made up a reason to hang me, didn't let me die, and was willing to be used by you."

"If you don't believe, you die." Xue Bai was still careless.

He didn't think that Nalan Zhen would die, if she had the guts, she might as well have directly broken his conspiracy earlier and martyred the country with death.

He could see that she was the same person as him, bent on power, and would never give up her life easily because of setbacks.

What's more, she was tied up there, and it was impossible for her to kill herself.

However, in a flash, I saw that Nalan Zhen was actually a chrysalis, and she threw herself into the bonfire.

In an instant, the smell of burnt fire was already heard, and the bonfire quickly lit the clothes and ropes on her body.

Xue Bai reacted extremely quickly and hugged her out. But the fire still burned on her clothes, even up his sleeve, and he quickly threw herself down, rolling on the ground several times in a row.

The surrounding Tang soldiers also reacted very quickly, and they all rushed to slap them with their robes.

The fire was scorching, and the smoke and dust were filled, although it only lasted for a short time, what appeared in Xue Bai's mind was Li Tengkong's figure. It was in the fire of Zhongnan Mountain, and he hugged Li Tengkong and rolled on the ground to extinguish the fire, afraid that he would roll to the foot of Huashan Mountain as soon as he rolled.

But what he didn't say was that at that time, he thought in his mind that if he and Li Tengkong fell from the top of Mount Hua and fell off the cliff and were crushed to pieces, it would also be broken together...... No regrets.

"Are you alright?" He asked, looking down.

Then, in a trance, the person under him was not Li Tengkong, Li Tengkong was as elegant as a lotus, but the eyes in front of him were full of stubbornness.

Xue Bai then got up and picked up his clairvoyant mirror as soon as possible. In order to hug Nalan Zhen, it was thrown on the ground, and at this time, it was still the same scenery in the distance, but there were a few mottled spots on the mirror.

Although this thing can be slowly recreated, he only has this one right now, and he didn't even give it to Wang Tianyun if he wanted him, and when it became like this, he couldn't help but be annoyed, and glared at Nalan Zhen fiercely.

Nalan Zhen was in a daze, and suddenly, she broke free from the rope, and took advantage of the Tang troops around her to react, and jumped towards the Jinsha River like a rabbit.

Fang Cai had just tried to come out, Xue Bai didn't want her to die, so the Tang Army naturally wouldn't let go of the arrows, so she ran boldly and ran extremely fast.

Soon, the golden tidal flats were in front of you.

"Whew-"

A thick piece of firewood smashed over from the side and tripped on Nalan Zhen's feet, she fell to the ground with an "ouch", and she still wanted to escape, and the Tang army had already surrounded her.

She simply sat there and watched Xue Bai walk slowly, and gradually, a smile appeared on her face.

"Are you angry?" Nalan Zhen sneered and asked loudly, "I haven't seen you get angry yet." ”

Xue Bai didn't answer, and shook his head.

Nalan Zhen said proudly: "You're right, we are the same people, greedy for power. Then how ruthless you are, I will be ruthless, I can be ruthless to myself, and I will be even more ruthless to you in the future. ”

Li Fei Yuanli couldn't listen to it, and she wasn't used to her, so she stepped forward to pick up the firewood and smashed her twice, so that her mouth was overflowing with blood, but she was still laughing.

"You don't have to fight." Xue Bai stepped closer.

Nalan Zhen became more and more proud, and said, "Look, you are reluctant to kill me, and you are reluctant to beat me?" I see through you, I have a use. ”

"You can think whatever you want, but you are not ruthless, you are willful." Xue Bai said: "One day when no one gives you a cover, you dare to be so crazy, and then I will count you ruthless." ”

Nalan Zhen raised her head proudly.

A nosebleed flowed.

She couldn't wipe it, but she felt that she had experienced these hardships and had grown up.

Xue Bai only saw Nalan Zhen's naivety in this little episode, he was too lazy to teach her to grow up, and set off to rush back to Taihe City.

~~

Taihe City.

Cangshan is towering, Erhai Lake is bright, like eyebrows and eyes on the earth.

Longshou Pass and Longwei Pass sit in the city, completely closing the road between Cangshan and Erhai Lake, forming a terrain that is extremely easy to defend and difficult to attack.

It can be built so quickly, naturally because before the army was raised to fight against Zhang Qiantuo, Ge Luofeng had already ordered the construction of these two passes, and now he is sitting on the moat, and he has the strength to fight with the Tang army.

On the eighth day of October, just as Nanzhao Tanma was still paying attention to the movements of the Tang army that was gradually approaching in the east. In the distance, someone was standing on the top of the mountain, looking at Longwei Pass with a clairmile mirror.

After that, the heavy brow furrowed slightly......

(End of chapter)