Finally waiting for the moment to break through, Helan Jinming put on a majestic armor and looked at the elegant and handsome image in the mirror for a long time.

"Brother, don't be nervous." Helan Zhijia said: "If he is really captured by Shi Siming, it will be a big deal to descend him, and he will not lose his life." ”

"Shut up. You and my ancestors have been loyal ministers of the Tang Dynasty for generations, how can you forget the danger of the country and seek a living?! ”

Helan Jin scolded his brother sternly, and strode out with the sonorous sound of his armor. Helan Zhijia thought to himself, no matter what his brother's intentions were, if he was really in danger, he would definitely save his brother's life even if he was blamed.

As for betraying the society and scolding for the history, he bears the charges.

The brothers rushed to the school yard in the city, and more than 3,000 Beihai soldiers under their command were already lined up.

The leader of the general is named Ma Xiangru, a native of Qingzhou, and his name is only one less "division" than Sima Xiangru, but his image is completely different, he is a man with five big and three thick.

"Old horse." Helan Jinming beckoned Ma Xiangru to come closer, and said, "According to what I said the day before yesterday, Li Xuejiao will take the Pingyuan County soldiers to go with us. ”

"Whoa."

Ma Xiangru is quite upright, so Helan Jinming didn't say too many personal things to him, and whispered: "If Xue Bai and Yan Gaoqing want to lead their troops to break off, you don't have to pay attention to them." ”

"Whoa."

"Let's go."

"Brothers!" Ma Xiangru stretched out his voice, and waved his hand with the enthusiasm unique to Shandong Dahan, "Kill the thief and make meritorious service to please the mother-in-law!" Can you win?! ”

"Medium! Middle! Middle! ”

Ma Xiangru believed very much what Xue Bai said, the entire Hebei and even Fanyang had already taken the right side anyway, this was something he saw with his own eyes, and there would be no falsehood. It is clear that the counterinsurgency is just around the corner, and now is not a good opportunity to make meritorious contributions.

If you follow him, you don't have to break through, chase Shi Siming and kill the past to be called a hero.

"Boom!"

The war drums sounded suddenly, and the gate of the west city of Pingyuan County was wide open.

The first to kill is still the king, the ability of the famous general is not only how strong his force is, but also reflected in many aspects, such as he is convinced by any army soldiers, and can make him like an arm.

Yunzhong City is located in the border town, which is a strong force in the east of the river, far from being comparable to the soldiers and horses of the three counties of Changshan, Pingyuan, and Beihai, and only Wang is rare to be able to suppress it. And after the suppression, this army was able to lead its comrades well.

It's like a gun, and the Yunzhong Army is the tip of its gun, hard and sharp enough.

The king stabbed the spear out of his hand with a rare blow, and the horse's hooves stepped on the rebel's shield, and forward, crushing the sternum of a rebel soldier. The rebels, as usual, were digging into the ground and were caught off guard by the sudden attack.

"Kill!"

The shouts of the Yunzhong army reached the city, and the morale of all the Tang troops was boosted.

Ma Xiangru was also eager to try when he heard it, he used to run rampant in Qingzhou, and he always felt that he was so arrogant that no one took it seriously. But this time he was really scared by some generals in Shi Siming's army.

Wang is rare to be a person who can beat the rebel generals, so he can't help but be unconvinced.

However, just as he wanted to ask for the order to kill, Helan Jinming had already ordered him to wait. So, in just a moment, Xue Bai had already taken the Changshan County soldiers out to kill.

After all, it is a three-county alliance, there is no unified command and dispatch, and several troops and horses are lined up in the school field inside the city gate.

Ma Xiangru thought that the next soldier and horse to make meritorious contributions to the city would be himself, and he heard Helan Jinming say: "Follow me to the city tower." ”

"Whoa."

Climb the rickety wooden ladder to the top of the tower, and you can see the junction of heaven and earth, and you can also see the movement of rebels in four directions outside the city.

As a result, Shi Siming's main force has been withdrawn, and the remaining troops will have a hard time coping with the breakthrough of the Tang army. As far as the naked eye could see, the vast majority of the rebels were surrounding the west, as the flag waved.

Helan Jinming watched it for a while, and when Yan Gaoqing took Diao Wansui, the deputy general of the Pingyuan County Army, out of the city, he said, "Let's go from the north." ”

Ma Xiangru was still thinking about meritorious service, and was stunned for a moment when he heard this, but in line with his obedience to the Taishou, he still responded, observed the enemy situation, and went down to the city tower to give orders to the generals.

As soon as Yan Gaoqing left the city, Li Zejiao, who stayed in the city, did not continue to defend the city according to Yan Gaoqing's orders, but suddenly mobilized a team of his henchmen, the number was not large, only more than 200 people, but all of them were elite cavalry.

These soldiers and horses had already prepared and immediately rushed to the northern city.

"Open the gates!"

"Pass the order down and follow General Lee's banner!"

Everything was going on according to Helan Jinming's plan, and he kept urging the Beihai soldiers to immediately take away all the war horses in the city and hand them over from the city with Li Ze.

The cave is three feet and five feet long, dark and narrow, driving horses through the cave, stepping on the moat suspension bridge, the wind blowing in front of you carries the smell of earth and the heat of summer.

This was the first time Helan Jinming had been out of the city since he was besieged, and he took a long and deep breath, feeling extremely free.

Exactly, after being in the cage for a long time, you can return to nature. The sea is wide and the fish jumps, and the sky is high for the birds to fly.

"Go to Changshan County!"

Ahead, Li Zejiao led the elite, quickly penetrated the already sparse array of rebels, and quickly marched north.

The Pingyuan soldiers were obviously more familiar with the terrain, and Helan Jinming once again ordered to emphasize that the Beihai soldiers should follow Li Zejiao's banner.

Gradually, the sun shifted to the west.

"The breakout was successful."

Helan Jinming took a long breath and looked back, the plain county town had become a palm-sized outline in the sky, but the dust and smoke in the west were still flying high, which showed the fierceness of the war.

It is likely that Xue Bai and Yan Gaoqing and others will be inseparable, but they can only be blamed for their reputation, and they have to rush to call on the counties of Hebei and covet the prestige of the alliance leader.

Suddenly.

"Report!"

The scout horses sent by Li Zejiao were rapidly galloping back, and the team stopped.

Helan Jinming couldn't see what was happening, so the brothers immediately rushed forward to Li Zejiao, and asked in a loud voice, "What's going on?!" ”

Before they could answer, they had seen a commotion in the woods ahead of them, and smoke and dust rising from the trees.

"Ambush?!"

Soon, a banner with the word "history" appeared in the field of vision. There was a lot of clamour, and the rebels rushed out of the woods and rushed in this direction.

"Shi Siming?!" Helan Jinming couldn't believe it, and exclaimed, "Why didn't he go to Fanyang yet?!" ”

Helan Zhijia raised his eyebrows and said: "Xue Bai has a plan, Fan Yang is afraid that the rebellion of Jia Xun is fake, and it is Shi Siming's plan to lure me out of the city." ”

"Retreat."

The next moment, more than twenty cavalry surrounded and surrounded them.

Helan Jinming was stunned, looked at Li Zejiao, and asked, "What are you doing?" ”

"Please give the order to Taishou, and all the soldiers of Beihai County will obey my command."

"What?! You ......"

"Whew-"

The closer the horn sounded, Li Xuejiao was much more lazy to say, and immediately blew the whistle for retreat.

The maneuver of more than 200 cavalry was extremely flexible, and they adjusted the direction in a circle, bypassed the array of Beihai soldiers, and fled southward, while the 3,000 Beihai soldiers were still bloated there.

"Keep up! Come on! ”

Li Zejiao passed by one Beihai County soldier after another, and kept shouting.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

The situation was critical, and the constant urging forced the Beihai soldiers to have no time to think about it, but they continued to chase Li Xuejiao's banner with their minds.

~~

Under the banner of the word "history", Shi Siming sat on the war horse with a cold expression, staring at the flag in the distance, slightly surprised.

He also got the news from Fan Yang, knowing that Jia Xun, Liu Kenu, Wang Xuanzhi and others had betrayed, and now that An Lushan had appointed him to stay behind as Fan Yang, he would inevitably return to Fan Yang to deal with it. Fortunately, Xiang Runke had already killed Jia Xun, so that he still had time to defeat the main force of the Tang Army that was still active in Hebei, as well as An Lushan's henchman Xue Bai.

On the night of the previous day, a messenger from Changshan ran to the plain city under the cover of night, and was received into the city by the defenders. Expecting that if he pretended to withdraw most of his men and horses, the defenders thought that he had withdrawn and would break through, so he hid in the woods outside the city and scattered a large number of horses to wait for the defenders to take the bait.

All the movements of the defenders today are actually under Shi Siming's control, and he confirmed that the defenders feinted to attack the west, but in fact broke through to the north, before tightening the encirclement.

But when the soldiers met, Shi Siming realized that something was wrong, and it was not the banner of the word "Xue" that the Tang army went north, but the word "Helan".

Therefore, he didn't want to gather troops to encircle and suppress this army and horses, lest Xue Bai escape from other directions, after all, Xue Bai was far more worthy of attention than Helan Jinming.

"General!"

Suddenly, Shi Siming's waiting cavalry rushed over and said, "We captured a team of Tang Army's letter horses and intercepted important information!" ”

"Give it to me!"

Although Shi Siming was a Turk, he was very studious, not only could he read and write, but he could also write poetry.

"Ren Helan Jinming is the envoy of Hebei?"

Shi Siming muttered to himself, his eyes were thoughtful, but he was puzzled, so he had to order: "Bring the messenger, I will personally interrogate." ”

Six messengers were brought to him, and he quickly determined that two of them were from Guanzhong, based on their accents and the degree of wear and tear of their boots.

"Why did you appoint Helan Jinming as the envoy?"

"This ...... He was highly respected, and after being a royal in-law, he was loyal to the saint. ”

"Let you be honest!"

"Yes, yes, the sage handed a secret decree to Helan Jinming, asking him to capture Xue Bai and enter Beijing. A few days later, Helan Jinming was unable to convince the public, so he sent me and others to read out the appointment in public, and it was appropriate to give a face-to-face lecture. I also arrived in Changshan County, only to know that Helan Jinming and Xue Bai went to the plain together, and hurriedly chased after the horse, but I didn't expect it...... I was lucky enough to meet the general. ”

"What's the right time for face-to-face teaching?"

"Xue Bai seems to have connived at the East Palace and deliberately connived at the thieves, no, he is suspected of conniving at your army's attack on Hebei and attacking Luoyang......"

"Fart!"

The rebel generals scolded one after another.

"I waited for Luoyang to be defeated by my ability, how could it be Xue Bai's connivance?!"

"The Dog Emperor is so mediocre, it's time to roll off the throne......"

Shi Siming looked at the messenger scrutinically, made sure that what they said was true, and then moved his gaze back to the banner of the big book "Helan".

At this time, Helan Jinming's weight in his eyes was very different, and he was a real Hebei envoy.

"Herald the encirclement! Be sure to intercept and kill Helan Jinming! ”

"Besiege Plains City, and never let them return to the city!"

The soldiers and horses were mobilized, and the rebel cavalry went in all directions to Helan and killed the banner.

The afternoon weather became hotter and hotter, and the dark clouds in the sky gradually condensed and were low.

Suddenly, thunder rang out.

Some of the soldiers in the rebels were startled, thinking that the Tang army still had explosives, but when they looked up, they realized that it was really going to thunder.

"Report!"

"General, the Tang army has broken through from the south!"

"Keep exploring!"

Shi Siming did not respond immediately, because the Tang army should not go to the south, which was probably a deception to rescue Helan Jinming.

But after a long time, he got an unexpected news.

"Report! General, the Don army snatched our pontoon bridge over the Tuxiao River......"

"Chase!"

~~

With thunder, heavy rain fell.

Sixty miles south of Pingyuan County, there is a large river, and the waves are turbulent.

Just listen to the name of the river "in vain", you will know that the river is untamable, and it is one of the nine rivers dredged by Dayu.

In the evening, a corpse was smashed into the river and quickly swept away without a trace.

"The Tang Army is here!"

"Poof."

With the defeat of the rebels, the Don army quickly captured the pontoon bridge over the river.

"Quick! Crossing! ”

As a vanguard, it was Diao Wansui, the general of the plains, who turned over and dismounted, rubbed his muddy face vigorously, and shouted: "Let Yan Taishou cross the river first!" ”

"The soldiers go first."

Yan Gaoqing looked back anxiously, waiting for the follow-up soldiers and horses to come one after another, until he saw Xue Bai's banner and immediately greeted him.

"Is it going well? How many dead and wounded? What is the rest of the grain and grass? ”

"It went better than expected." Xue Bai glanced back at the rain and said, "Shi Siming sent more soldiers and horses to the north, but Li Zejiao hasn't come back yet." ”

"Why?"

"Maybe we're not as important as we thought." Xue Bai said: "Xu is imperial court has announced the appointment of Hebei recruiters. ”

Yan Gaoqing was worried, and hurriedly beckoned Diao Wanzai, and said, "Quickly lead the troops to rescue Li Xuejiao, and bring back the soldiers of Beihai County as much as possible." ”

According to their plan, Helan Jinming wanted to abandon them and flee, so he could leave them behind, but the Beihai soldiers wanted Li Xuejiao to bring them back.

"It's too late for General Diao to go again." Xue Bai said: "I have ordered Jiang Hai to rescue Li Xuejiao as much as possible after the break." ”

"Can they still break through?"

"I will do my best to protect myself." Xue Bai said: "It's too inconvenient for the soldiers and horses of the three counties not to belong to each other, after breaking through, how about reorganization?" ”

"It's up to you."

~~

At this time, the soldiers of Beihai who fled were not in a good situation, because they could not enter the city due to the siege and blockade of the rebels. Taking advantage of Wang's rare opportunity to break through the rebels in the west, Li Zejiao led them from the west to bypass the city and flee south.

But because they were too far away from the main force, they were surrounded in the evening after running for more than 30 miles.

"Taishou?!"

In the heavy rain, Ma Xiangru wiped his face hard, his eyes widened, and he tried to find Brother Helan Jinming.

"Do you see Taishou?!"

Ahead, Li Ze turned his horse's head and came back, squeezed through the crowd and pulled his reins, and said, "What are you still making trouble?!" Don't you command the soldiers to break through with me?! ”

"My ...... Guard"

"Helan Taishou asked you to follow me! Is it important to be an official or to win or lose? Take your brother with you and follow me! ”

Ma Xiangru was stunned, and looked back again, but Helan Jinming could not be found in the rain curtain at all.

"Come with me!" Li Zejiao shouted again, this is his last temptation, if Ma Xiangru still doesn't make up his mind, he will kill Ma Xiangru and seize power.

"Medium!"

Ma Xiangru quickly had an idea.

"Brothers, don't mess up, listen up, Xue Taishou has broken through and captured the pontoon bridge in front, let's go and join him!"

"Shout! Keep up with my hammer! ”

"Kill with the general!"

He hadn't received Helan Jinming's order before, and he had been in a state of distraction, but at this time he finally got up his spirits, waved the flag, beat the war drums, and asked the soldiers to shout to kill, so as to confirm his location in the heavy rain. After that, he raised his lance and slew forward.

"Kill!"

In this way, the Beihai soldiers knew where the generals were, and shouted and rushed in his direction.

In this kind of weather, visibility is too low, and it is very unfavorable to mobilize more troops and command more for encirclement and suppression. Soon, the rebel encirclement was loosened.

At this time, shouts of killing also sounded in the south.

"Master Wang is here! Beihai County's robe Ze is here! ”

Ma Xiangru stared at it, and saw Jiang Hai's banner in the rain, and couldn't help but be very excited.

"General Jiang is energetic!"

He forgot about Helan Jinming for the time being, kicked the horse's belly, and ran towards Jiang Hai.

As for the few rebels standing between them, they were quickly knocked out of the way by his weapons and armor.

"Breakout! Breakthrough! ”

In the chaotic situation, Helan Jinming has been held hostage, but the hole they broke in the encirclement was still very small, and rebels soon appeared in front.

"Whoosh."

Because Helan Jinming's golden armor attracted the attention of the rebels, a sharp arrow suddenly hit his horse, accompanied by the neighing of the horse, he fell to the ground, and was immediately injured.

"Brother!"

Helan Zhijia quickly grabbed the reins, dismounted and pounced on Helan Jinming.

This angered his captors, who struck him in the crook of his leg with a spear.

"Dare to escape?!"

Helan Zhijia ignored it, rolled over, crawled to Helan Jinming under the belly of the horse, and shouted: "Brother, they want to harm you, come down!" ”

Therefore, he received another spear.

"Taishou!"

"Protect Taishou!"

Finally, the generals of the Northern Navy noticed him and hurriedly rushed forward to rescue him. They rushed forward and restrained their horses, preventing them from stepping on the brothers.

As a result, the elite soldiers of Plains County had no chance to hold them hostage, so they simply fled on horseback.

The situation was chaotic, and this movement attracted more loyal Beihai soldiers, as well as rebels, and both sides flocked to each other. In the heavy rain, the bystanders did not know what was happening, and poured out of the encirclement and fled south.

"Erlang!"

Helan Jinming got up from the mud covered with pools of blood, picked up Helan Zhijia, and said, "Let's go." ”

"Brother, you can't die, come down."

"No, we have been loyal to our ministers for generations, and we will never surrender to thieves...... Our family business is in Gyeongzhao Province. ”

"Brother's life...... More than anything else. ”

Helan Zhijia was already angry, but thinking of being framed by Li Zejiao today, he vomited blood and scolded: "Sinister villain...... I really deserve to be killed. ”

"Erlang, I'll take you away." Helan Jinming couldn't drag Helan Zhijia's body, so he had to keep patting his face, hoping to make him sober up, "Let's go." ”

Helan Zhijia closed his eyes and muttered something with his last strength.

Helan Jinming listened to it and heard a few lines of poetry, which were poems written by him.

"You don't see the rock down the well, and the spring is less than a hundred feet. You don't see the artemisia on the mountain, a few inches of smoke. ”

Helan Zhijia's voice became lower, but the corners of his mouth smiled slightly.

In this elegant Tang Dynasty, his brother is one of the most elegant people, and he should not have been on the battlefield.

"Life is the same, why bother to worry about yourself? I hope that relatives and friends will smile for a long time......"

~~

"Chase!"

The rebels pursued the Tang army from the darkness of the night until dawn the next day, when they finally heard the louder and louder sound of water in front of them.

"They're on the pontoon!"

"Chase!"

At this time, it was Ma Xiangru who had just landed on the opposite bank, and Jiang Hai was still crossing the river on the pontoon bridge.

The rebels immediately dismounted and rushed forward, and also rushed to the pontoon bridge, stretched out their bows and arrows, and fired arrows at the Tang soldiers.

"Whoosh."

In the rain of arrows, Jiang Hai held a shield in one hand, strode across the rickety pontoon bridge, and fell into Ma Xiangru's arms.

He looked back, grinned, and shouted, "Chop! ”

"Tiger—"

The soldiers holding their swords on the side of the pontoon bridge slashed at the same time, and cut off the pontoon bridge in unison.

"Bang!"

The river quickly swallowed up the pontoon, as well as the rebels on the bridge.

After a day and a night of fighting, the Tang army stopped and looked at the surging river, turned around, and headed south.

~~

A thunderstorm comes and goes quickly.

The next day, the sun shone on the courtyard of Yuchengyi.

Xue Bai spread out the map, glanced around at the generals around him, didn't do too much mobilization, and only gave them confidence with a firm look.

"To say bad news, Luoyang has been lost, which is also the reason why Shi Siming went and returned."

In a word, Ma Xiangru was immediately stunned and shouted: "However, Luoyang seems to be the ...... of the eastern capital."

"Don't you have confidence in the imperial court to quell the rebellion?" Xue Bai asked: "Zhaozhao Datang, can't you put down a miscellaneous rebellion?" ”

"Surely not!" Ma Xiangru said without hesitation.

"Yes, so the seventeen counties of Hebei, plus Fanyang, Yuyang, and Andong are all righteous. Do you see that the rebels now have any long-term operating territory? No! They had only a route, a route to quickly attack Chang'an. ”

Xue Bai picked up the charcoal pen and drew a line on the map.

"From Fanyang to Weijun, to Kaifeng, to Luoyang, to Tongguan. Now most of the rebels' troops and supplies are on this line, busy like ants before the rain. Why? They are in a hurry, they can't stand the consumption, and they only think about speeding up Chang'an. Datang's national strength is too strong, and they only have a short time to take advantage of the emptiness in Guanzhong to approach the Son of Heaven. ”

Ma Xiangru scratched his head.

Diao Wansui grabbed him and said, "Don't you understand?" It seems to be critical right now, but it's a good time to get an official position. ”

"I know, I just don't know what to do."

"The reason why Yan Taishou and I took you south is to make meritorious contributions."

Xue Bai drew a map of the situation and continued: "Right now, the soldiers and horses of Huainan, Shannan, Guanzhong, Hedong, and Longyou are besieging the rebels, where to attack? Luoyang, An Lushan is now in Luoyang. Therefore, when we go to Huainan Road, there is abundant grain and grass, sufficient materials, and we can also make a great contribution to the joint suppression of the thief leader, wouldn't it be better than defending it on the plain? ”

"Ahh Ma Xiangru said: "So that's the case! ”

"Shi Siming was originally going to return to Fanyang, worried that we were going south to attack An Lushan in a vain attempt to intercept us."

Xue Bai didn't exaggerate it too much, sneered slightly, and his eyes revealed the ambition and longing of making meritorious contributions, making all the generals feel that he was going south to get credit.

So, in the midst of the distress, the crowd cheered up even more.

"Tell me the specific route."

"Good!"

One by one, helmeted heads squeezed to the top of the map.

"As I said earlier, the rebel forces are concentrated on this route, so they have no time to pay attention to the southeast of Pingyuan County, and we have spread the word to Hebei, and many counties have responded and can provide us with food and grass for the next day, and we can rest along the way."

Speaking of which, all the generals are happy and think that they can go to Jinan.

Xue Bai changed his words and said, "But Shi Siming must also know this, and he is likely to catch up before we cross the Yellow River." If we go from the southeast, we will not be pursued by him. ”

"That?"

"Here." Xue Bai clicked on the map and said: "Attack instead of defending, and attack the rebels' important town in Hebei, Wei County." Once Wei County is taken, we can cross the Taihang Mountains in the west and cross the Yellow River in the south, so that the rebels cannot guess our thoughts. ”

(End of chapter)