"Newspaper—"

A long trumpet sounded, only to see a cavalry horseback galloping into the camp, dismounted in front of the tent and ran into the tent panting: "Your Majesty, the eldest son of the Worm Khan encountered more than 10,000 soldiers and horses in Difuchi, and was defeated in a fierce battle, and had to retreat to Snow Wolf Mountain. ”

Tuoba Tao's expression was dazed, he couldn't help but stand up, and immediately walked to the map to check, Difu Pond was in the south of the Dome Ridge, not close to here.

Tuoba Tao regretted a little at this time, he sent too many troops, and did not leave enough soldiers and horses to deal with emergencies, but he couldn't let the Shuzi army be annihilated by the Rouran army and left it alone, no matter what, he had to send troops to the rescue.

While the ministers and generals in the tent were talking in low voices, Tuoba Tao turned around and asked with a serious expression: "Which general is willing to lead troops to rescue the concubine army?" ”

As the general of the army, the king of Gaochang Tuobana did not actually command the troops, but only listened to it in front of the royal car, at this time he saw the opportunity, and immediately stood up and hugged his fists and said: "Your Majesty, the minister is willing to lead the troops to rescue!" ”

Tuoba Tao asked, "How many soldiers and horses do you want?" ”

"The minister only needs 3,000 cavalry, please order that each soldier be given three horses and five days of dry rations, and let the soldiers bring more arrows!"

Taichangqing Cui Hao frowned, he looked at the young and gentle Tuobana, stood up and said to Tuoba Tao: "Your Majesty, although the King of Gaochang is brave, but the three thousand soldiers and horses are too few, Difuchi is several days away from here, and the long journey to rush over is already sleepy and tired, and with such a small number of troops into battle, how can you defeat Qiliegui and rescue Da Xi Guangliang and the Shu Zi Army?" ”

There are only less than 10,000 soldiers and horses in the camp, and if too many soldiers and horses are sent out to rescue, the remaining soldiers and horses will have to be reduced, and there will be great hidden dangers to the safety of the emperor's imperial car.

But Cui Hao's words are not unreasonable, the army of Qiliegui has 10,000 horses, even if 5,000 men and horses are sent to the rescue, there are not as many soldiers and horses as Rouran with the Shuzi army.

At this time, Qiu Mu Lingshou, the king of Yicheng, stood up and said: "Your Majesty, the Yulin Army is escorted by car, and it cannot be easily used, or Weichen will lead the 5,000 guards to the rescue, leaving 2,000 guards and the Yulin Army to protect Your Majesty!" ”

"No, Your Majesty has too few guards around you!" Taishi made Zhang Yuan immediately object.

Hua Mulan instinctively sensed the danger, and always felt that something was wrong, but she couldn't say it, but within a radius of hundreds of miles here, it had been probed by the Wei army scouts, and no trace of the Rouran people was found.

Now that there are Wei army brigades in the four directions, even if the Rouran people want to launch an attack on the camp of the Western Route Army, what way can they avoid these sent out Wei troops to come here?

At this time, Tuoba Tao said: "Okay, I have three thousand forest army guards enough!" Qiu Mu Lingshou, 5,000 soldiers and horses are too few, you take all the soldiers and horses of the guards to rescue the concubine army, as fast as possible, change horses without changing people! ”

"Command!" Qiu Mu Lingshou clenched his fists and agreed, turned around and left.

Seeing that the others still had to be persuaded again, but his will had been made, he could no longer change it casually, so he raised his hand and said to the ministers and officials: "There is no need to say any more, strengthen the vigilance, there is no need to worry, I don't believe that the worm people have the ability to fly to the sky and the earth can suddenly kill me!" If there is nothing else, each of them should go and do his own thing! ”

"Wait for the resignation!" The ministers and generals saluted and retreated one after another.

Tuoba Tao walked out of the tent, saw Mulan who was left behind, and shouted: "General Hua stays!" ”

Hearing this, Mulan stopped and turned around and walked back to salute: "What else does Your Majesty command?" ”

Tuoba Tao said: "I saw that you wanted to talk just now, but what do you want to say? ”

Hua Mulan hesitated for a moment, but still hugged her fists and said: "The last general feels that something is wrong with this, but he can't say it!" ”

"You think this is a ruse by the Rouran people to divert the tiger from the mountain?"

Mulan said, "It's not impossible, but the last general can't think of any way for them to suddenly appear under our noses and attack!" ”

In addition to this expedition, Tuoba Tao has been driving three consecutive expeditions to Rouran, the first two times were beaten to the Rouran people, and the Rouran people will only use force in his eyes, not stratagems, they are barbarians, otherwise he would not have issued an order to call Rouran a worm.

He smiled disappreciatively and said: "General Hua, you are too careful and too worried, the worms are not as smart as you think, I have led the army to fight the worms twice in a row before, and I know them well!" If they knew how to use stratagem, they wouldn't have lost more than they won every time! Okay, you've been working hard to protect my safety these days, so go back to your tent and rest! ”

Hua Mulan had no choice but to salute: "Yes, the last general will retire!" ”

Tuoba Tao watched Mulan's back go away, shook his head helplessly and smiled.

At this time, a cavalry ran into the camp, ran directly to Tuoba Tao and stopped, jumped off his horse and bowed: "Your Majesty, King Le'an sent a villain to report to Your Majesty, our army found a 5,000-person worm cavalry one hundred and fifty miles north of the Dome Ridge, after a battle, our army won a complete victory, killing more than 2,000 people, the remnants of the worms retreated to the north, our army is pursuing, and then there will be a war report over!" ”

When Tuoba Tao heard this, his first reaction was not that he was worried that he would be attacked by the Rouran people here, but that he was worried that Tuoba Fan, the king of Le'an, would be too close to the Khan's Court and would be counterattacked by the Rouran people.

He immediately ordered the messenger: "You eat something first, then change two horses and bring dry food and hurry back to tell Tuoba Fan Poor Kou Mo to chase and tell him not to get too close to the Khan's Court!" ”

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

In the middle of the night, in a mountain stream to the northwest of the Dome Ridge, countless Rouran cavalrymen with torches were leading their horses along the winding mountain stream.

There were no roads in the mountain stream, and on both sides of the stream were a large number of strange rocks of different sizes, and weeds could be seen from time to time.

Tuzhen woke up from his sleep, lifted the fox skin mattress on his body, sat up and shouted, "Where is Kurenzhi? ”

A majestic Rouran handsome man turned around and walked over and said, "Princess, Ku Renzhi is here, what do you command?" ”

Calling the princess directly, instead of calling her name, shows how high the status of Princess Tuzhen is in Ku Renzhi's heart.

It's not that Da Tan doesn't have daughters, and there are several, all of whom are princesses, but if you want to talk about wisdom and ability, this Tuzhen's niece is much better than his own daughters.

Kurenzhi is the younger brother of Bendu, the leader of the Rouran Tribe, and his bravery is unrivaled in the clan, and he is also a few warriors in the entire Rouran Khanate.

Princess Tuzhen asked, "Is this road sure to lead to the Dome Ridge?" Don't make mistake about it, this is a major event related to the rise and fall of the entire Rouran Khanate, and if something goes wrong, you won't be able to cut off ten heads! ”

Kuren straightened his strong chest and said: "Rest assured, the princess, the guides are all herdsmen in this area, and they often go into the mountains to hunt, and they say that this road has been traveled several times, and they will not go wrong!" ”

"How far away? Will you be able to arrive before dawn tomorrow? ”

Kuren said: "The last general has already asked the guide, and they said that if they follow this speed of marching, they can walk to the Dome Ridge by tomorrow morning!" ”

"Well, pass the order, let the sons and daughters maintain this speed, and no one is allowed to peek and fall behind!"

"Yes, princess!" Kuren directly agreed, and called the herald to pass the order down.

The torches stained with butter crackled as they burned, and the soldiers led the horses in one hand and the torches in the other, and no one spoke, but they hurried silently.

Marching at night, or rushing in this mountain stream where there is no road at all, is a great test for the Rouran soldiers who have never experienced walking on foot.

In less than two hours, many people had blisters on the soles of their feet, and the pain was terrible, and the speed of the march inevitably slowed down, and in the first half of the night, Princess Tuzhen had been sleeping, and she didn't find it, but Kuren Zhi found that the speed had slowed down around the time, and immediately ordered the soldiers to speed up.

But after the order was given, the speed did not increase, not because these Rouran soldiers did not want to speed up, but because they couldn't speed up at all, and the blistered parts of their feet hurt terribly, how could they speed up?

Princess Tuzhen, who was sleeping in beauty, was woken up, "Princess, the march of the army has slowed down, and the last general has ordered to speed up, but ······ Many of the boys' feet were worn out, and the pain was terrible, and the marching speed really couldn't be improved! ”

Princess Tuzhen realized the seriousness of the matter, and the best time to launch a surprise attack was before Li Min, she knew that that time was the time when people were most sleepy, and if they attacked again at dawn, it would be easy to expose it in advance, and it would give the Xianbei people time to deal with it.

But now there is no good solution to this situation, it is her problem, she does not consider that this kind of problem will arise when marching on foot.

Now what? Do you turn around halfway and retreat? It's impossible, the arrow is on the bow, and it has to be sent!

The Khan's side has been completely withdrawn, and has sent a group of soldiers and horses and paid a heavy price to lure away the soldiers and horses of Tuoba Fan, the king of Le'an, and make room for her to lead troops to march, otherwise she would not have been able to bring troops here in such a short time.

Withdrawing at this time, everything that had been done before was in vain, and the warriors who were used as bait died in vain.

Princess Tuzhen's beautiful eyes flashed with an inexplicable light, and she ordered: "Don't think about the speed of the march, for safety, you can walk as many pieces as you can!" ”

Kuren was stunned, he didn't know why Princess Tuzhen was not forcing the speed of the march, but since the order had been given, he had to carry it out, "Yes, lord!" ”

Princess Tuzhen was very glad in her heart, fortunately, before setting off, all the warriors were required to bring an extra day's dry food, otherwise this battle would never be easy.

As expected, this Rouran army hurried and hurried, and in the end it was not able to reach the Dome Ridge before dawn, and did not arrive until it was dark and the sun came out.

"Who?" A burst of shouts suddenly came from inside an arrow tower on the Dome Ridge.

"Oh no, he's been discovered, shoot him!"

With a "whoosh", the person who was drinking just now was hit in the chest by an arrow, but his shouting just now still alarmed several other Wei soldiers under the arrow tower.

"Light the beacon!"

Kuren pulled out his scimitar and shouted: "Sons, kill me!" ”

"Whoosh ······"

With a "boom", the beacon fire of warning was ignited.

Rouran rushed up and chopped a few Wei soldiers into meat sauce, but Ku Renzhi's face turned white instantly, and he slowly turned his head to look at Princess Tuzhen, who had already walked over.

Princess Tuzhen blushed and scolded: "Didn't this princess tell you not to act rashly? Why don't you listen to orders? ”

"Princess, princess, the last general, the last general deserves death!" Kuren fell to his knees with a thud.

Princess Tuzhen really wants to kill this reckless man, but if she kills him, who will lead these Rouran sons to charge? The expression on her face changed, her silver teeth bited, and she shouted: "Get up, Princess Chuanben ordered, everyone is ready, kill the Xianbei people's camp as quickly as possible, their emperor is there, if anyone kills the emperor of the Xianbei people, this princess will report to the Khan and directly be named a leader!" ”8)