"Journey to the West"

Author: Scarlet Polyp

Chapter 10 Traces of a Strong Enemy

"What does it look like this, with a belt tied around your forehead!" He Chong touched the shoulder-length hair that was cut to the back of his head and complained dissatisfiedly.

Luo An smiled narrowly: "Hey, Xiao He, what are you talking about, look at the masters of the dead soldiers' camp, cut your hair when you call it, and dress it when you call it, you don't have half a word of, you can also learn from them!" ”

"Hmph, this group of dead soldiers, I really doubt that in addition to wielding their swords and slashing people, they will be able to speak human words? It's almost unflavored. He Chong said disdainfully, "Who is not serving the imperial court, and who is that ghost to see?" ”

The dead soldier that He and Luo mentioned was the master who temporarily joined the vanguard to help this time. Due to the importance of this "escort" mission, in addition to the 100 people carefully selected by the vanguard, more than 30 good men were also selected from other troops, and Jiang Wu, the general of Anxi, also specially selected six masters from the elite "dead soldier battalion" directly under him. In addition to eating and sleeping all day long, these dead soldiers practiced swords alone, and they were not approached by the living, and they looked like they were as cold as ice, and they couldn't wait to walk in the shadows of people. Luo An and He Chong are optimistic by nature and have a wide range of friends, and they can mingle with other people along the way, but they have all touched nails when they try to get close to these dead soldiers a few times, and they are not very comfortable.

Zhao Neng saw that the more the two of them talked, the more unkind they became, and he hurriedly stopped talking in a low voice: "Hugh is talking nonsense!" You know something. The dead soldiers under General Jiang's command were all selected from the orphans in the Xiliang battlefield, and began to practice martial arts at the age of seven or eight, and since the age of fifteen, they have been with the army to protect important generals. Over the years, there have been no more than half a hundred people in the whole camp, and any one of them is a top-notch person. How can you chew your tongue here? ”

"What Uncle Neng said is that these dead soldiers are a big help, if you can't get along, let's not provoke others!" Zhao Guang changed into a Qiuci warrior outfit, white clothes like snow, long hair and shawl, lining out a handsome beauty that is rarely seen in ordinary military uniforms, he slowly brandished the Qiuzi long sword, so that his body gradually became familiar with this exotic weapon, while saying, "You have time to complain, it is better to practice the sword more, by the way, practice those few words of Qiuci, this time even the commander's weapon can not be used, and he is in a foreign country." The more familiar, the more certain. ”

Zhang Hu said with a strange smile on the side: "Lao Zhao, you are really more and more handsome in this body." I still suggest that you paste your face with mud, otherwise the easiest person to be seen by the Shule people is precisely you! How can Qiuzi have such talents? Zhao Guang's face was flushed, and he had to swing his sword by himself.

In this surprise attack on Shule, the reinforcements after capturing the city gate were also extremely important, and Pang Desi thought about it, but let Gao Shun and his trap camp take on this heavy responsibility.

Gao Shun was not born in one of the three major lineages of the original Northern Xinjiang (Hebei, Yellow Turban, and Hu), but although he was brave and good at fighting, he was repeatedly excluded and had a bad career. Fortunately, he is open-minded and upright by nature, and he is not keen on pursuing power, nor does he disdain to form gangs, so he has avoided many factional battles. After the Son of Heaven came into power, upon the recommendation of Sima Yi, Gao Shun was reused, first promoted to the leader of the central army, commanded the Yulin Guard, and then moved to the leading general. Although the trapped camp led by Gao Shun was less than a thousand people, it was one of the most elite troops in northern Xinjiang. Zhongxing has fought more than a dozen times, trapped in the camp first in each war, climbed the city to capture the flag, won a hundred battles, made outstanding achievements, and sacrificed greatly - the veterans who have been there since the establishment of the battalion have only a dozen people still alive when they were in Zhongxing. After Zhongxing, the Son of Heaven ordered to expand the trapping camp, and now the whole battalion has a total of 4,000 people, divided into 1,000 "charged" cavalry and 3,000 "trapped" infantry.

After receiving Pang De's military order, Gao Shun and Pushan planned well: when approaching Shule City, the trapping camp and Pushan and his party acted separately, Zhao Guang's team escorted Pushan into the city, and the trapping camp hid more than ten miles outside Shule City, and after nightfall, the whole army quietly approached the city wall and ambushed. When Zhao Guang's team obtained the city gate, they raised the fire as a signal, and the camp took the opportunity to attack and seize the whole city.

"After entering the city, the safety of our soldiers depends on the master." Gao Shun got off the chessboard and said with a smile, "After nightfall, I also need a lot of assistance from the master." ”

Pushan clasped his hands together and said: "General Gao, please relax, this plan is not only made by poor monks, but also has its own poor monks to maintain it." Shamen has a wide range of believers in Shule, and there is no obstacle to entering the city. ”

Gao Shun asked: "The master is exiled and leads hundreds of guards into the city, won't the Shule people be suspicious?" ”

"Huh." Pushan smiled and put down a son, "The royal families of Shule and Qiuci both believe in my Buddha, and when the poor monks went to Shule in the past, the king of Qiuci sent nearly a thousand soldiers to protect the Dharma, and Shule was not surprised." Even if I saw that I had a large number of guards, I would not be suspicious. The one who is worried is how the general will suppress the people of Shule after entering the city? It must be known that the courage of the Shule people is incomparable to that of the countries of the Western Regions. ”

When Gao Shun heard this, he was silent, and he was quite disapproving: As long as the city is broken, can the necks of the Shule people be stiffer than the swords of our army?

Pushan arrived at Shule City and was warmly greeted. The king of Shule led the princes and nobles to the gate of the city to greet the Fa driver, and entered the city of Shule hand in hand with Pushan, receiving the cheers of all the people, and Pushan ascended the altar to preach the Fa. The hearts of the people of Shule were all taken by Pushan, and no one doubted the origin of the "Turtle Guard". After the ceremony, Pushan and his disciples stayed at Ananda Temple, the first largest temple in Shule, while the guards stayed in the post house.

The architectural pattern of Shule City was greatly influenced by Qiuzi, but the scale was much smaller, from south to north, only three or four miles away. In recent years, as the state of Shule has become stronger, and its role as a thoroughfare of the Western Regions has become increasingly important, the small city has become somewhat unable to accommodate the gathering of merchants, so that many new shops, temples and houses can only be built outside the city. During the day, thousands of merchants gathered, and the city was noisy and crowded; Even at night, it was bustling, and it didn't gradually quiet down until the middle of the night.

At this time, several black shadows quietly approached the city wall, and after observing no one left and right, they whistled, and soon more than a hundred black shadows poured out from the corner of the street and gathered quietly.

After Zhao Guang finished the whole team, he waved his hand and commanded everyone to lean down and glance at the six dead soldiers. The six of them were ordered, drew their thin swords at their waists, stood on tiptoe, and took the lead to climb up the city wall.

The guards at the Shule gate were not as strict as imagined, and the six dead soldiers, like six black cats, touched them silently all the way, and killed anyone they saw - only killed seven sleepy guards, and then went up to the city tower without any danger. Zhao Guang and the others followed, lying on the stairs near the top of the city wall, observing the situation on the city wall.

"It's a bit of a war, it's a bit wary. There are more than 20 people near the city tower, 10 people at the city gate winch, and more than 50 people on the city wall within 20 zhang nearby. Tuoba Feng glanced at it a few times, then found out the general situation, and said in a low voice, "My lord, my subordinates suggested that the soldiers should be divided into three routes: I and the brothers of the dead battalion went to capture the winch, and the adults took twenty people to suppress the city tower and release the signal, and the other brothers quickly cleared the nearby city wall of the enemy. ”

Zhao Guang's participation in such a sneak attack was also the first time that the eldest girl had been on the sedan chair, and seeing that Tuoba Feng, who was good at scouts, said this, it was not inappropriate to think about it, so he nodded and simply conveyed the order. The six "black cats" didn't need Zhao Guangduo to say, as soon as they saw the gesture launched, they rushed out like lightning.

Tuoba Feng was the first to come with two swords, and he rushed to the winch one step ahead of the dead, stabbed the short sword in his left hand into the back of the head of one of the Shule guards, swung a sword in his right hand and cut the neck of another man, abandoned his left sword, and threw himself into the arms of the third enemy with both swords, nailing him to the city wall. Several dead soldiers were naturally not ambiguous, they were all one who killed the enemy in front of him in front of him, and when he saw Tuoba Feng Rabbit kill three people in a row, looking at him with a rare look of appreciation and respect. Tuoba Feng didn't dare to delay, and hurriedly signaled a few people to help open the city gate.

At this time, the battle on the city walls was also basically over. Although Zhao Guang and others were not good at assassination, they relied on the large number of people to be good at fighting, and they quickly wiped out no more than 100 Shule soldiers. According to the plan, Zhao Guang ordered people to shoot three rockets into the sky, and lit a special torch and waved it. In a short time, there were shadows not far outside the city, and a large group of people rushed to the city gate. Zhao Neng stroked his palms and smiled. "Okay, it's done!"

As Pushan said, the people of Shule are fierce, and they are far superior to the countries of the Western Regions. Although Gao Shun led his troops to break through the palace as soon as he entered the city, and escorted the Shule royal family to disarm the entire army of Shule, the people's resistance has risen one after another since the day of the Han army. Thousands of Shule people, young and old, poured into the streets, attacking the Han army with bricks and wooden sticks, setting obstacles on the roads, and even stealing into the Han army's accommodation at night and setting it on fire. Gao Shun was forced to have no choice but to order the whole army to be on guard, close the market, prohibit gatherings, strengthen patrols, and when he found signs of rebellion, he immediately killed him without mercy - after cutting off thousands of heads and hanging them on the side of the street to show the public, he finally gradually controlled the situation. Three days later, the main forces of the two routes of the Western Expedition gradually entered the city in batches, and seeing that the resistance was hopeless, the Shule people finally settled down completely.

Although the situation in Shule was settled, the vigilance in the city had not yet been lifted, and Zhao Guang still led the team to patrol the streets as he had done in the past few days. Zhao Guang looked at the depressed streets and the indissoluble hostility in the eyes of the Shule people, and sighed with emotion: The Han Dynasty has always ruled the world with benevolence and filial piety, and has paid more attention to benevolence and righteousness to the barbarians in all directions, but this time it is all thunderous means for Shule, and I don't know whether it is right or wrong. At this moment, Tuoba Feng ran to him and said in a deep voice: "My lord, I found a group of foreigners gathered in a square in front of me, all of them hiding weapons, and their behavior was strange and suspicious. ”

Zhao Guang led everyone forward, and sure enough, he saw a group of strangers in strange costumes and high noses and deep eyes who were forming a circle and prostrate on the ground. A bonfire burned in the center of the circle, and a red-robed man stood in front of it, his hands outstretched, chanting words. Zhao Neng leaned close to Zhao Guang's ear and said, "Young Master, these people seem to be the Zoroastrian sect members who are rumored to live in the extreme west, and these people have come all the way to Shule for some reason. Zhao Guang nodded, and ordered Luo An and He Chong to lead people to block the street entrance, and the rest of the people surrounded those people and collected their weapons. A few soldiers stripped the red-robed man of his coat like wolves, tied him with a rope, and threw it in front of Zhao Guang. Only then did everyone realize that the man was just a young man of about twenty years old, although he had blue eyes and brown hair, his appearance was also very delicate and elegant, although he was being tied up with five flowers, there was no panicked look on his face, but he kept looking at everyone with a pair of smart big eyes.

When he was about to be interrogated, he only heard Luo An, who was guarding the street entrance, shouting, "What person! Immediately after that, there was a series of sounds of weapons being knocked away, and everyone looked back and saw a bearded man in a yellow shirt shouting loudly, raising his sword and riding his horse to kill this side. Zhao Guang took a few steps forward in a hurry, stood still with a gun, his feet were not in order, his legs were slightly bent, and when the other party slapped the horse and killed him, he flashed to the side quickly, and the spear came out, and the spear drilled into the knight's armpit like a poisonous snake, and did not reach the handle of the gun.

Luo An caught up from behind, and was so angry that he wanted to step forward to make up for a few knives, but found that the knight had already lost his breath, so he had to return the knife to the sheath and shouted to the Guizi interpreter beside him: "What is this thief and bird shouting while rushing? Exhausted? The interpreter shook his head and said that he did not understand, but when he saw that the young man had come forward and crawled up to the knight's body, looked at the wound, and said a few words to the interpreter in the language of the knight, he understood, and said to the people: "This man said that this deceased was one of the most powerful knights of the kingdom of Sabbath, also known as Parthia, a powerful country in Central Asia, and that he was the servant of this knight, and that their master and servant had come to Shule for the purpose of trade with the kingdom of Sabbath. ”

The young man bowed to the corpse a few times, then walked to Zhao Guang and bowed down, and said a few more words in Qiuzi, and the interpreter hurriedly translated to Zhao Guang and said, "My lord, he said that his name is Alda, and since you killed his master, according to the laws of the Sabbath country, he will be your servant from now on." ”

"Huh?" Zhao Guang had never seen such a person who recognized the master, and was quite dumbfounded, and after exchanging a look with Zhao Neng, he motioned to the soldier to let go of the young man's rope, and said to the interpreter a little helplessly, "It's really a mess, you tell him for the official that the official is a military general of the Han Dynasty, and the law of the Han Dynasty does not allow indiscriminate collection of servants." Since he is only a servant, and the official has no intention of embarrassing him, let him take his master's body away and bury it. ”

After listening to the interpreter translate this, the young man named Alda suddenly became excited, and he spoke in a row, and nodded at Zhao Guang repeatedly, and the interpreter listened to it and said in surprise: "My lord, he said that it must be the will of the god of fire to see you." He has important news to tell you that on their way east, they found a large number of Kushan Empire troops approaching the Green Ridge, numbering nearly 100,000! ”