Above the officialdom of the Tang Dynasty, it is not a puddle of clear water, which can see the bottom at a glance. Most of the new emperors ascend the throne, they will support two or three parties, the parties compete with each other, the power checks and balances, the high Son of Heaven is willing to see it, and the ministers below are also happy to do it.

Where there are partisans, there are victims.

Thinking that the history of General Yunlu, who resounded in Mobei back then, became a victim of the Tang Dynasty party struggle, and now he can only be a five-grade ranger general in this Mobei, with thousands of miscellaneous troops under his command, running around all day long, sleeping in the open air, where is there still the old days.

This general was still full of righteous indignation in the early years, and over the years, he has also been gradually smoothed out by the wind and sand on the Gobi Desert in Mobei.

However, when no one is around, he still likes to call his personal guards: "General Yunlu!"

It's a pity, now Shi Mingming, the biggest battle he has ever seen is a fight with two groups of horse thieves, as long as there is a fight, he is very happy, no, I heard that the Turkic cavalry arrived outside the Soul Castle, he ran in a hurry.

He can't afford to wait for the order of the imperial capital military department, this round-trip journey of more than ten days, waiting for the order of the imperial capital to be transmitted to Mobei, and in the various military villages, waiting for those military villages to prepare some grain and grass, maybe at that time, before they can be pulled, the people of the Wandering Soul Fort will have to be displaced and their heads moved.

Fortunately, he is now a ranger general, the military department does not love him, and the sergeants under him are not considered regular Tang Army, what does he like to do, those military bosses in the imperial capital, but few people look at him well, but few people are willing to offend him, and he is happy and free.

Two hundred spies were sent by him to look for horse thieves on the Gobi Desert, and now every horse thief is a living force.

Otherwise, he went from less than a thousand miscellaneous troops who had just arrived in Mobei, to four or five thousand people over the years.

Nowadays, there are fewer and fewer horse thieves in Mobei, with the rapid rise of the Soul Castle with the strong support of the Tang Dynasty, the horse thieves who could not make a living in the early years have already gone to the Soul Castle to live a good life.

Shi Mingming stopped his horse, and the ragtag army in the yellow sand behind him also stopped with the orders of the first few soldiers in front.

The general was nearly fifty years old, and the flesh on his face trembled under the bumps on the horse's back, and he looked back at the soldiers behind him, and smiled.

Don't look at it as a ragtag army, there is no armament distribution in the imperial capital, and you even need to find your own way to eat. But this general has still raised these miscellaneous armies for so many years, and the belongings he fought for in his early years have been tossed up and down in these years.

This ranger general likes to joke with the veterans of these miscellaneous armies: "Believe it or not, we can beat their regular army raised by the Tang Dynasty with these thousands of miscellaneous troops." ”

Most of the veteran oilers will echo one or two sentences: "Yes, I don't look at whose soldiers are under it." ”

Every time he heard this, Shi Mingming was so happy that he couldn't close his mouth.

The reason why he ordered his sergeants to stop advancing was because he had already seen a horse thief stockade in front of him, and Shi Mingming had already collected nearly three hundred horse thieves on this way, according to his estimate, this stockade in front of him should be the last horse thief he could encounter before entering the Soul Castle.

There are naturally a lot of horse thieves in Mobei, but it is impossible for him to absorb them all, and besides, the Turkic barbarians have been here for two or three days, who knows when they will suddenly attack, and the war will not wait for anyone.

gave his guards a look, and Shi Mingming rode his horse to the front.

The guards understood what this general meant, the old way, they had been following for so many years, if they couldn't even understand this, they would have been kicked behind as a firehead.

Several guards led a team and rushed to the bottom of the stockade in a hurry.

Far away, they heard the sound of drums on the watchtower of the stockade.

"Heh, it's quite lively. Seeing the situation in the village, Ma Fen was happy.

At this glance, as soon as the drums sounded on the watchtower, at least more than 200 horse thieves ran out, which was not much different from the number of horse thieves he had worked so hard to collect along the way.

"What's this village called?" Ma Fenming asked the guards beside him.

"General, this village is called Xujiabao, and it has existed for many years, it is an old village, but a few days ago, I heard that this village has broken a lot of people, and now it seems that most of them are fake. ”

"Hmm!" Shi Mingming nodded and raised his horsewhip: "Whether he is true or not, now these people, who have been seen by me, are the sons of my ranger general, do you know." ”

"The little one understands. The guard hurriedly bowed down and replied.

Shi Mingming, who was riding on horseback, gently pinched the horse's belly, and the horse under his crotch slowly walked forward.

A few people in the stockade who seemed to be in charge of things climbed the watchtower to take a few looks, and then hurried down.

After a while, at last a few more stewards climbed up the watchtower.

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Xu Dabao frowned and wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead: "It's really eventful, could it be that those Turkic barbarians have already broken the Soul Fort and come here?"

"The big boss, looking at the flag looks like our Datang army. The second leader behind him, the horse thief with a long knife, glanced at the distance and replied, "However, I don't think the equipment of this group of people is much better than ours." ”

"Miscellaneous army?" Xu Dabao probably understood what the second master meant: "Isn't it the idea of attacking our stockade?" ”

Before the second master could pass the word, a feather arrow was stuck straight into the watchtower.

Outside the stockade, two well-dressed sergeants ran forward and shouted loudly: "We are rangers, please take care of things in the stockade, come out and answer to our general, otherwise, we will attack the stockade." ”

The feather arrow was still trembling slightly in front of the watchtower, Xu Dabao was so frightened that he almost planted the watchtower, but fortunately, a few people behind him hurriedly supported him.

"The ,...... of the Big Boss"

"I'll go, you'll watch here. Xu Dabao took a few breaths, he was afraid of death, but now that he is the master of the village, he finally convinced his horse thieves last time, and he will definitely have to be looked down upon by them when he retreats at this time.

After a while, Xu Dabao walked out of the stockade tremblingly, and he pretended to be calm and stuck the knife in his hand into the sand in front of him: "I am the big boss of this stockade, call your general out." ”

"What's your name?" Shi Fenming, who was riding on horseback, crossed several guards who were shouting and raised his horsewhip at Xu Dabao.

"In the next Xu Jiabao big boss Xu Dabao. Xu Dabao raised his neck at Shi Fenming.

"Well, I didn't expect that there would be such a brave horse thief as you, yes, Lao Tzu saw you very pleasing to the eye, and decided to temporarily take in your village today and make you a captain. "Shi Fenming doesn't like to hide and hide, so he will get down to business.

"What?" Xu Dabao's face shook violently a few times, and he sniffled to make sure he had heard correctly.

"Should it?" Shi Fenming didn't seem to have much patience, and shouted again: "No, then pull out your stockade, anyway, when the Soul Fort is broken, you will have to fall into the hands of the Turkic barbarians, it is better to follow Lao Tzu, maybe you can get a good background." ”

As soon as these words came out, Xu Dabaoke was completely stunned, Shi Fenming seemed to be threatening them, but every sentence made sense, even if they could avoid these miscellaneous armies, the Turkic barbarians couldn't dodge.

Xu Dabao didn't dare to agree, and quietly looked back at the horse thieves in the village, especially the few people in charge of the watchtower, most of them were also very entangled at this time, Xu Dabao is a smart person, and a smart person knows current affairs.

"Yes. Xu Dabao withdrew the knife and hugged Shi Fenming with a fist: "But if I don't want to go to this village, you have to raise your noble hand and let them go." ”

"Well, if you don't want to follow me, I'm definitely not reluctant. Shi Fenming agreed.

"Okay. Xu Dabao said, turned around and prepared to return to the village, but before he could reach the gate of the village, he was slapped in the air by Shi Fenming.

"Hehe, Xu Fatzi, right, you kid and I look very pleasing to the eye, you definitely can't run away, and yes, this is the time to burn your ass, you village, at least two hundred people have to give me two hundred people." Shi Fenming glared at Xu Dabao and said, spitting stars flying wildly.

Don't look at Xu Dabao as a fat man, but in this historical hand, he may not even be a chicken, and wiped the saliva on his face with his hand, Xu Dabao nodded very aggrievedly.

He thought to himself that this ranger general, I'm afraid that he didn't have a sharp eye, and his careful thinking had just started, and he was seen through by this general.

"Well, open the gate of the village, let my sergeants have a full meal in the village, and after eating, we will go to the Soul Castle. ”