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Mrs. Xu was distressed, and immediately stepped forward to take Xu Ai in her arms and said, "Good daughter, what's wrong? Who bullied you? Tell Weiniang, my mother will go to seek justice for you." ”

Xu Ai cried even more sadly in her mother's arms, and she said while sobbing: "It's all the people of Sangu, chewing their tongues behind their backs, saying that Brother Li is a spy sent by the Western Regions, and that the heads of those horse thieves are all filled with the heads of the people from the Western Regions who died of disease.

I went up to refute her, and she scolded me, my father, and Brother Li, and said that if my brother Li was not a spy, why had the young and strong people in the whole city been recruited, and even her junior was dragged to repair the city wall.

She also said that our Xu family is greedy for money, and the Xu family Chamber of Commerce has been able to do so well in business over the years, and it must have taken refuge in foreign clans, so there has never been a horse thief robbing our caravan.

I couldn't get angry and quarreled with her, but a group of them came up and scolded me, and the scolding was very ugly! Daddy, I can't hold back this breath, I want to bring all the women in the family, and I want to go to them and scold them back!"

Xu Jiu sighed secretly, his information channel was much stronger than his daughter, and he naturally knew why the government wanted to treat Li Mao like this, and now he didn't detain Li Mao, he was already considered the city lord to be lenient and benevolent.

The wartime period of military control is the easiest time for a person to disappear from the world, and just find a reason to collaborate with the enemy, you can easily kill anyone who wants to kill without being held accountable for it.

The daughter is still too young to know the depth, and it is best not to remind and pay attention to the existence of the Xu family and Li Mao at this time.

When the war began, the people in the city were panicked, and there would naturally be fewer similar discussions.

But now that her daughter is making such a fuss, Li Mao and the Xu family have become the target of public criticism, and Xu Jiu has to admonish her daughter: "Ai'er." ”

Xu Ai looked up at Xu Jiu with teary eyes and said, "Dad, what's wrong?"

Xu Jiu said softly: "Ai'er, do you want to let Brother Li survive this turmoil safely." ”

Xu Ai said: "Of course I thought about it, otherwise I wouldn't have quarreled with the third aunt." ”

Xu Jiu said: "Then you just listen to your father, don't go out these days, even if you go out, don't argue with others because of Brother Li's affairs, so that after a while, the turmoil will calm down." ”

Xu Ai nodded as if he didn't understand, and said, "Oh, Dad, I know." ”

Xu Jiu touched his daughter's head and said dotingly: "Okay, go into the house with your mother to wash your face, crying like a little flower cat, ugly to death." ”

Xu Ai had no choice but to go back to the house with her mother to wash. Xu Jiumu sent the mother and daughter into the back house, and turned to look at the wing where Li Mao lived.

At this time, Li Mao opened the door and walked out, his face was as calm as water, and his eyes were resolute and decisive.

Xu Jiu was sophisticated, only glanced at Li Mao, then sighed and said, "Nephew Li Xian, have you already figured out how to do it?"

Li Mao nodded and said, "Yes, Uncle Jiu, how can my eldest husband shrink back when he is alive! Xiao Aishang can argue with others for my innocence, what qualifications do I have to be a shrunken turtle again? Don't worry, I will use my own methods to prove my innocence." ”

Xu Jiu nodded and said, "Is there anything the old man can help you with?"

Li Mao thought about it seriously and said: "A tight-fitting fish skin water backing, it is best to have a certain warmth effect, two white tight down jackets and pants, two white capes, two white hoods, two pairs of white leather gloves with strings, two pairs of white wool boots with nails on the soles, and five catties of butter fried flour."

Uncle Nine, how long will it take to purchase these things?"

Xu Jiu estimated it and said: "Most of the things you want are available in the Chamber of Commerce, and it is not difficult to buy those that you don't have, and you will get them all for you before noon tomorrow, and you will have time to do it." ”

Li Mao nodded and said, "Well, it's too late, then thank you Uncle Nine." After saying that, Li Mao turned around and went back to the house.

Xu Jiu knew that Li Mao was going to risk infiltrating the Western Regions military camp, which was the only way he could prove his innocence, so Xu Jiu had no reason to stop him, what he could do was to buy everything Li Mao needed, and he wanted to buy the best.

Li Mao returned to the room, opened the cabinet in the corner, and took out his two long knives from it, because after entering Dunhuang City, Li Mao never had a chance to use them again, so he simply put them away.

These two long knives are made of stainless steel, the knife is four feet seven inches long, the blade is three feet six inches long, the blade is narrow and straight, the blade is extremely narrow, the arc of the blade is very small, the single-sided blade, the cutting edge is extremely sharp, and the standard Tang knife worn by the Tang ** tube is very similar, but the steel of these two knives is more excellent.

The standard Tang knife can be cut, sharpened, stabbed, chopped, and blocked, and the requirements for the user's martial arts are very high.

Li Mao picked up the two long knives again, and a feeling of familiarity and excitement appeared in his heart, and he immediately felt that the blood and pride of chasing and killing horse thieves in the Western Regions in the desert before had returned to his body.

Li Mao pulled out one of the long knives with a "bang" and gently stroked the edge of the long knife with his left index finger, testing its sharpness.

Sure enough, I didn't use them for a while, and the edge of the long knife became dull, and it didn't cut Li Mao's fingers very smoothly, and the cut didn't bleed much.

Li Mao put his bleeding fingers in his mouth and sucked hard, letting a little sweet and salty blood flow into his throat, his eyes began to become hot, and his whole body seemed to be taller.

Li Mao spent the whole afternoon in the house packing up his blades, first finding whetstones and fetching water, and sharpening the two long knives again.

Then remove the grayish-yellow silk threads from the previous ones on the handle and re-tie the handles with white silk until they are adjusted to the best position for the handshake.

As for the black scabbard, a lacquer maker from Xufu had already removed the scabbard and painted it white, dried it and sent it back.

That night, the lights in Li Mao's house were turned on all night, and no one knew what he was doing, so Xu Jiu strictly ordered the people in the mansion not to disturb Li Mao's practice.

Before noon the next day, all the things that Li Mao asked for were delivered, and there was also a special white backpack, which Xu Jiu specially made for people, because he had seen merchants from the Western Regions carry them, which was very convenient and did not affect people's movements.

Li Mao tried the finished products, and was very satisfied with the quality, and he nodded his gratitude to the servant who had sent them, and then continued to close the door.

At dinner, a family member finally found that Li Mao was missing, and the maidservant hurriedly reported to Master Xu, who instructed everyone in the house not to make a noise about the matter.

Xu Ai was very surprised when he learned the news of Li Mao's disappearance, and rushed to his father as soon as possible to ask: "Dad, where has Brother Li gone?"

Xu Jiu shook his head and said, "Ai'er, your eldest brother Li has something very important to do, you just know it, don't tell it about it." The success or failure of this matter is directly related to the innocence of your brother Li, and we can't help him, nor can we hold him back. ”

The vanguard of the barbarian coalition army waited for seven days before waiting for the first part of the coalition army, because the wind and snow were too strong, the coalition army was divided into three divisions, the first part had 350,000 elite cavalry of various ethnic groups, these are the most elite troops that can be drawn out of each ethnic group at present.

Among them, there were 150,000 Mengyuan troops, 150,000 allied troops of the Western Regions, and 50,000 cavalry of the Western Tibetan States.

In terms of military strength alone, the strength of the Mengyuan Empire far exceeded that of the Thirty-six Kingdoms of the Western Regions and the Western Tibetan Kingdom, because the Mengyuan Empire was a unified nation, led by the Golden Horde Khan, a royal family for generations.

The 36 countries in the Western Regions have not been unified, and it is said that there are 36 countries, but in fact, the number of countries in the Western Regions may far exceed this, and there are many cases where ethnic groups with a population of more than 10,000 dare to claim to be countries.

This time, in order to gain more say in the coalition forces and not suffer a loss in the distribution of benefits, the Western Regions countries jointly promoted the Uighur king's son Tong Wanhu as the spokesperson of the Western Regions.

Tong Wanhu is the younger brother of the Uighur king, with unstoppable courage and shrewd mind, and is a very famous hero in the Western Regions.

The western part of the country has always been sparsely populated, and this time it is more of a foil in the coalition army.

Meng Yuan did not send many troops this time, mainly because the Golden Horde court was fighting on the east and west sides of the empire at the same time, and the Yunzhong region on the eastern front was already inseparable from the Ming state, and it was impossible to send more troops to help the western front.

Even if Meng Yuan's strength on the Western Front was not superior, the individual combat ability of the Meng Yuan cavalry exceeded that of the Western Regions cavalry, so this army still took the commander of the Mongolian army on the Western Front as the main general of the entire army.

The commander of the Mengyuan Western Front Army is the general Su He, which means "axe" in Chinese language, and is a general who is good at fighting tough battles, and the Golden Horde sent Su He to be the general of the first department of the Mongolian army on the Western Front, in order to give full play to his strength in attacking Dunhuang City.

The vanguard of the barbarian alliance was not idle while waiting for the Chinese army, and they had already set up a camp twenty-five miles north of Dunhuang City.

However, because the vicinity of Dunhuang was very barren, even if the vanguard troops wiped out hundreds of small villages around it, they still did not find enough timber and stone to build a camp of nearly 400,000 people.

In order to accommodate the 350,000 Chinese army, the vanguard troops made countless snow nests in the snow as shelters for the coalition army.

Because the men and horses of the various units of the Chinese army arrived at the camp one after another, and the armies of various countries and nationalities were not subordinate to each other, it was very difficult to distribute the snow nest and other resources, and two days had passed since the 350,000 troops were settled.

In the past, when the countries of Mengyuan, Xifan and the Western Regions went out to fight, they would carry a large number of cattle and sheep as supplies, but this year's snowstorm was too big, and the entire ethnic group did not have too many cattle and sheep.

The Mengyuan was less affected, while the Western Regions were severely affected. By the time they arrived near Dunhuang City, half of Mengyuan's cattle and sheep had been eaten, and the armies of the Western Regions and Western Tibet were almost out of food, so the armies had to reduce their rations and raise military rations on the spot.

It is a pity that most of the residents near Dunhuang City have returned to the city, and only some old and weak people are left in the villages to take care of their families, and naturally there is not much surplus grain and livestock at home, which cannot meet the needs of nearly 400,000 troops.

The deputy general of the coalition army, Tong Wanhu, ordered the soldiers of the Western Regions to gather all the Tang prisoners in the camp to take care of them, and even dragged the dead bodies into the camp and piled them up in the snow, not allowed to be buried.

After Su He found out, he frowned slightly, but he knew that there were some things that he couldn't control, so he simply didn't care.

If you have time to fight with the Tongwan households, it is better to capture Dunhuang City as soon as possible, I heard that the grain and grass in the city are piled up, which can be eaten by millions of people for three years.

With this majestic city and the grain and grass in the city, maybe these people can survive this snow disaster safely, and they still have the strength to attack the Tang Kingdom and establish immortal achievements.

Su He carefully studied the rough map on the table, and Chao Lu explained to Su He the general situation of Dunhuang City and the nearby terrain on the side.

Although Chaolu had worked hard to investigate and draw the map, the roughness of the map made it impossible for Su He to see the real situation near Dunhuang City, so he decided to go to Dunhuang City to see it himself.

Su He called a personal soldier and said, "You take a few people to quickly invite the Lord of the Ten Thousand Households and the generals of the Western Regions and the Western Regions, and I will go with them to survey the terrain under Dunhuang City." ”