The soldiers of the Shatuo Army, who were in charge of monitoring the Tang army on the mountainside, suddenly noticed a fire in the pass on the mountain, and the Tang army seemed to have begun to attack the city upward, but there were no rolling logs and stones.

The Shatuo soldiers realized that something was wrong and immediately rushed down the mountain to report to Zhu Xie Jinman.

Zhu Xiejin's eyes widened, the Tang army attacked Yinguan and was not hit by rolling wood and stones?

This..... What's going on?

Even if the Tang army enters the pass, there should be a small number of rolling logs and stones to fall down, and it is impossible to have none of them.

Unless the defenders at the head of the city did not find that the Tang army was attacking the city.

Zhu Xie Jinman was suddenly anxious, "Go up the mountain immediately!" ”

'Woo-'

A low trumpet sounded, and the rest of the Shatuo soldiers gathered one after another, and the team soon gathered into a long dragon and ran towards the mountain with torches.

A quarter of an hour later, Shatuo's army rushed to the top of the mountain, dozens of steps away from Guancheng, when someone suddenly shouted, "Throw!" ”

The rolling wood and stones on the mountain fell like raindrops, and the Shatuo soldiers were caught off guard, and they were hit by the rolling wood and stones one after another, and suddenly their bones were broken and their tendons were broken, and they rolled on the steps screaming.

The mountain road was too narrow for the Shatuo soldiers to dodge, and the casualties were very heavy for a while.

Zhu Xiejin, who was supervising the battle in the back, knew that something was wrong, but he was really helpless, so he had to order: "The whole army withdraws!" ”

Shatuo's soldiers withdrew like a tidal wave, suffering nearly a thousand casualties.

After dawn, the Shatuo army finally entered the Yinguan Pass, but saw that the corpses in the city were all over the place, all 500 soldiers guarding the pass were killed, the camp tents were burned, and the warehouses where the grain was stored were also empty, and the Tang army had long since disappeared.

Zhu Xiejin was full of hatred and blood dripping from his heart, and he smashed his fist on the stone wall, and the arrow wound on his left shoulder began to ache faintly again.

A general said in a low voice: "The Tang army must return from the original route, take Dunhuang into the Hexi Corridor, if we rush to Guazhou and Suzhou, maybe we can intercept them." ”

Zhu Xie Jinman shook his head and said: "My army can't go to the Hexi Corridor, it will cause unnecessary disputes within Shatuo, but I can notify the Shatuo army in the Hexi Corridor to intercept this Tang army." ”

........

When Guo Song and his entourage of the Tang army arrived at Yanji Town, there were only 70 Tang troops and 5 seriously wounded soldiers, most of the 300 soldiers were killed or wounded, only Liang Wu was left among the three brigade commanders, and all six of them were killed, even the remaining 70 Tang soldiers were all wounded.

When Guo Xin heard the news, he hurriedly rushed to Yanji Town with a cavalry.

Guo Xin strode into the barracks, only to see Guo Song standing in front of the big tent with his hands in his hands, looking at the Tianshan Mountain for a long time, and a goshawk hovering above his head.

"Guo Changshi!"

Guo Xin stepped forward and asked in a deep voice, "How can it be so tragic?" ”

Guo Song said indifferently: "Huangsha wears gold armor in a hundred battles, and Loulan will not be returned if it is not broken, in fact, the vast majority of the Tang Army soldiers are sleeping in the frontier, and how many people can go home safely?" ”

Guo Xin nodded, "Since you have embarked on this westward journey, you should be mentally prepared." ”

Guo Song's eyes became gloomy, and after a while, he whispered: "Guo Chongqing is also dead!" ”

Guo Xin was shocked, he took two steps back, and after a while, Guo Xin sighed angrily: "What a Tang man, he didn't let me down." ”

"Let's all sit in the tent!"

Guo Song took Guo Xin into the big tent, the two sat down, Guo Xin asked, "Do you want to continue to go back to Chang'an?" ”

"It is my duty to return to Chang'an to restore my life, otherwise I would have stayed in Beiting, and I would not have forcibly broken through, with such heavy casualties."

"Changshi misunderstood what I meant!"

Guo Xin hurriedly said: "I mean it's best to rest for a while, and then return to Chang'an after the beginning of spring next year." ”

Guo Song was silent for a long time and said: "One of the biggest mistakes I made was to leave Tingzhou too quickly, so that the enemy was still patiently waiting for us, the soldiers suffered heavy casualties, I bear the greatest responsibility, I will not make a mistake a second time." ”

He looked up at Guo Xin and said: "If I guess correctly, the Shatuo people must still be waiting for me in Guazhou and Suzhou, if I leave in a hurry, I will still fall into the encirclement of the enemy, so I decided to accept the advice of Du Hu, and leave after the beginning of spring next year, and stay in Anxi for another half a year." ”

Guo Xin smiled slightly: "This is a wise move, although Anxi doesn't have much food, he can still afford to support you." ”

Guo Song shook his head and said with a smile: "In fact, this time we captured Yinguan, and we also collected thousands of stones of grain and hundreds of camels, as well as a lot of frozen mutton, which should be enough for us to live for half a year, I don't want to add a burden to Anxi, so we will stay in Yanji Town, and it is more convenient to go to Puchanghai here to inquire about the news." ”

Guo Xin didn't force Guo Song, they were all Anxi soldiers, and there was not so much politeness, he immediately agreed, "Whether it's Qiuzi or Yanji, in fact, it's all the same, whatever you want, even if you have any requirements, they are all your own people, don't be polite." ”

"Thank you Duhu, I'm not welcome."

Guo Xin comforted him a few more words, then got up and left.

Guo Song sent Guo Xin out of the barracks, and watched Guo Xin lead the soldiers into the city, and he said to Li Ji: "Let the soldiers have a good rest!" After the spring of next year, we will return to Chang'an. ”

..........

At the beginning of December, a heavy snow boiled over Chang'an City, Li Yu slowly walked out of the main hall, looking at the gray sky, snowballs fell one after another like a tear, and the palace not far away had become blurred.

A eunuch hurriedly wrapped a fox fur in Li Yu, and said worriedly: "Your Majesty, it's too cold outside, hurry back to the room!" ”

Li Yu sighed lightly, "At this time last year, Guo Song led the army to leave Chang'an, and a year has passed, and there is no news, which really worries me!" ”

"Your Majesty, the Ji people have their own heavenly appearance, and they will definitely come back."

Li Yu nodded, turned around and returned to the inner hall, the study of the Qilin Hall lit a charcoal basin, warm as spring, Li Yu took off the outer sink, sat back on the dragon couch, at this moment, someone outside reported: "Deputy Chief Gongsun has an urgent matter to see!" ”

"Let her in!"

After a while, Aunt Gongsun hurriedly walked in, bowed down and saluted, "See Your Majesty!" ”

Li Yu put down the pen and asked, "Is the result of the investigation out?" ”

Three months ago, there was an imperial history to impeach Lu Sigong, the envoy of Lingnan Jiedu, accusing him of quelling the rebellion of Ge Shuhuang in Lingnan the year before last, and embezzling Ge Shuhuang to extort millions of money from maritime merchants.

Li Yu secretly ordered Gongsun Auntie to send the elite of the Hidden Sword Pavilion to Lingnan to investigate the matter.

"Exactly!"

Aunt Gongsun took out an investigation report and presented it to Li Yu.

After reading the report, Li Yu was immediately furious, slapped the table heavily, and walked to the window with a blue face.

The report not only confirmed the fact that Lu Sigong was greedy for ink and stolen money, but also listed specific data, equivalent to 5.4 million taels of silver, not only that, but the masters sent by the Hidden Sword Pavilion also found the secret correspondence between him and Yuan Zai in Lu Sigong's study.

"Your Majesty, Yuan Zai is greedy and well-known, he speaks for Lu Sigong, Weichen is not strange at all."

"He's forgotten about his prime minister!" Li Yu said coldly.

Li Yu turned around and asked again, "Is there any news of Guo Song?" ”

Aunt Gongsun shook her head, and said: "Your Majesty, please rest assured, he should be safe and sound, mainly because Anxi and Beiting are far away, the task is difficult, it will definitely take a long time, and now it is winter again, and the road is closed by heavy snow, he will definitely wait until the beginning of spring to come back." ”

Li Yu nodded, "I hope he can come back safely, and there is one more thing for the eldest lady to do." ”

"Your Majesty, please!"

Li Yu said in a low voice: "Send the master of the Hidden Sword Pavilion to monitor Yuan Zai, especially pay attention to his dealings with King Lu. ”

"Wechen obeys!"

Aunt Gongsun sighed softly in her heart, the emperor's family, family affection is really as light as a blank paper.

Aunt Gongsun left, and Li Yu paced back and forth in the study with his hands in his hands, weighing all kinds of pros and cons left and right.

.........

In an elegant room in the backyard of the Vermilion Bird Restaurant, Lu Qi and Cheng Zhenyuan were staggered, talking happily, Cheng Zhenyuan saw that the time was ripe, so he took out a cabinet ticket and put it on the table and pushed it to Lu Qi, "I heard that Lingtang has a big birthday, this is a little congratulatory gift from me, please Lu Yuanjun smile!" ”

Lu Qi's eyes were picked, and he was secretly happy in his heart, and hurriedly pretended to retreat, but Cheng Zhenyuan refused to take it back, so Lu Qi had to reluctantly accept it.

Lu Qi smiled again: "I often tell His Royal Highness King Lu that after a long time, Gonggong Cheng has followed His Royal Highness King Lu for so long, and he is loyal and trustworthy." ”

Cheng Zhenyuan sighed, "Isn't this the Yuchao's favor?" We are all palace people, and our duty is to serve the Son of Heaven, but he is ambitious and has ruined our reputation, and I don't know how much energy it will take to wash away this stain? “

Cheng Zhenyuan was originally determined to be the head of the inner house, but unexpectedly, the Son of Heaven appointed another eunuch, Sun Xiaozhong, as the head of the inner house, which made Cheng Zhenyuan feel disappointed, and at the same time realized a trace of crisis.

In order to recover the decline, he turned his head and invested in Li Shi, the king of Lu.

Lu Qi is an important task by Li Shi's side, and getting his relationship right is very important for him to gain Li Shi's trust.

When Lu Qi heard that the other party said that he was a 'man in the palace of his duty', he couldn't help but secretly despise it, Yu Chaoen died, and Cheng Zhenyuan, the big dragon, began to curl up and pretend to be a little snake, but for the sake of 10,000 yuan, Lu Qi decided to help him.

What's more, as Li Shi's position gradually stabilizes, Lu Qi also has to start building his allies, Cheng Zhenyuan is undoubtedly a powerful figure, since he took the initiative to bend down to make friends with himself, Lu Qi is of course willing to reach some kind of consensus of interests with him.

Lu Qi smiled slightly: "Father-in-law Cheng, don't worry, His Royal Highness King Lu also needs some capable and trustworthy people around him, and I will beat the side drum for my father-in-law at the right time." ”

"Then thank you so much for Envoy Lu, come! I salute this glass of wine. ”