The scene of early autumn, there is a bleak state, the sunset in the west mountain, Cheng Yishi's soldiers and horses also seem to be quite unbearable, although the team still maintains the formation, but the speed is very slow, many soldiers are tired, and some people even have to support each other to move forward.

For three consecutive days, the soldiers and horses withdrawn from Xigu Pass almost did not pause at all, and the continuous march made the whole army exhausted and exhausted.

Cheng Yishi was riding on a horse, and he was also dusty, he knew that it was helpless to slow down the march, after all, people are flesh and blood, and it is already remarkable to be able to hold on until now.

"General!" The next to him came up together, it was Cheng Yishi's next officer, and he also looked tired, and arched his hand: "The brothers really can't walk, people are sleepy and tired, do you want to stop and rest for a while?" ”

Cheng Yishi hesitated, then he naturally knew what Cheng Yishi was thinking, and said in a low voice: "We have been gone for three days, there should be no problem." If the Northwest Army wants to catch up, I am afraid that it will catch up long ago, and they have just captured the pass, so they should not go out of the pass lightly. Glancing back at the exhausted team, he said, "The brothers can't walk anymore, and it's not a way to hold on like this!" ”

Cheng Yishi reined in his horse, hesitated for a moment, and finally nodded: "Pass the order and rest in place." Then he commanded: "You send men to guard you, and even though you are far from the pass, you must not take it lightly." ”

The whole thing agreed, the order went down, and the whole army rested in place.

Hearing the order, everyone immediately stopped, and many people sat on the ground with their butts, and the nerves that were tense before finally relaxed in an instant.

After arranging people to be on guard on all sides, he came back, but he saw that Cheng Yishi was already sitting on a dirt slope on the side of the road with several captains of the capital, walked over, and arched his hand: "General, everything has been arranged." ”

Cheng Yishi nodded, his expression solemn.

They withdrew from Xiguguan, and in a hurry, it was impossible to bring much rations at all, but between the hasty retreat, they brought some dry food casually, and most of the grain was still left in the warehouse and could not be taken away.

The rations brought out were very small, and they had already been eaten, and the soldiers were now not only exhausted, but also hungry.

Du Shi sat down next to Cheng Yishi with his tired body, only to see that the other generals also looked solemn, and they were all dusty, and it was difficult to see a smile.

Everyone knows that the loss of Xigu Pass, except for this escaped soldier and horse, the soldiers and horses guarding the pass are afraid that the whole army has been wiped out.

Many people can't even figure out why the incomparably strong Xigu Pass fell into the hands of the Northwest Army overnight, and what means did the Northwest Army use to take the pass so lightly.

They don't know why, but they know the consequences, and now they're worried about their future.

Cheng Yishi's face was solemn, he knew very well that the imperial court had high hopes for the pass, and was counting on relying on the danger of Xigu Pass, not only to block the way for the Northwest Army to enter the pass, but also to trap the Northwest Army alive outside the pass, so that it would be chaotic without a fight.

But now this qiē has come to naught.

Cheng Yishi could hardly imagine what the result would be if the imperial court knew about this, and along the way, he was worried, not only worried that he would not be able to explain to the imperial court, but also worried that the Northwest Army would take advantage of the situation to cover up from behind.

Three days have passed, there has been no movement behind him, Cheng Yishi's mood has been a lot more relaxed, in his opinion, since the Northwest Army has laid the pass, it should not be so quick to enter the pass, they should redeploy the defense of the pass, and it is the best choice to completely control the pass in his hands, and he has followed Da Xizhang to guard the pass for a long time, and he still knows a little about the situation in the northwest, knowing that with the current economic strength of the northwest, he should not dare to march to the pass lightly.

As the sun set, many soldiers lay on both sides of the road, and many were still complaining in low voices.

Several captains of the capital department frowned when they saw Cheng Yishi, and they didn't speak, they all looked at each other, in fact, everyone knew that the next step would be to go to Tongzhou to rest first, but everyone didn't know what to do next after arriving in Tongzhou City?

This army of soldiers and horses has always been used to guard the pass, and now that the pass is lost, what will be the future of this army of soldiers and horses?

If Da Xizhang is still here, it is naturally better to say something, after all, everyone knows in their hearts that Da Xizhang was recommended by the Xuanyuan family at the beginning, and although it is a big crime to lose the pass, with the status of the Xuanyuan family in the court, it is not difficult to keep Da Xizhang.

But Da Xizhang's current situation can only be more than lucky, even if he didn't die in battle, he must have been caught in the hands of the Northwest Army, in comparison, Cheng Yishi is just a partial general promoted by Da Xizhang, although Cheng Yishi has won the trust of Da Xizhang, but it has nothing to do with the Xuanyuan family, Da Xizhang has the Xuanyuan family as a backer, but Cheng Yishi does not have this connection.

I don't know how long it took, Cheng Yishi finally spoke: "The current Zhizhou of Tongzhou is Xu Qing, right?" ”

"Yes." A general on the side said: "After Zhao Guangqing was killed, the position of the governor of Tongzhou was vacant for a while, and then it was Qiao Mingtang who promoted Xu Qing. ”

Zhao Guangqing, the former governor of Tongzhou, colluded with Tianmen Dao, intending to rebel, and was later eliminated by Chu Huan and Xuanwu, when the northwest was invaded by the Western Liang people, Tongzhou once became a transit place for transporting materials to the northwest, and Xu Congyang, a scholar, also sat here for a period of time, and when Xu Congyang returned to Beijing, Wei Tianqing, the commander of the Xishan Praetorian Guard, was also seated here, until the new Zhizhou Xu Qing went to work.

The logistics supply of Xiguguan has been supplied by Xishan Road in the past two years, and the grain and grass supplied by Xishan Road to Xiguguan will be hoarded in Tongzhou City first, and then escorted to the pass by Tongzhou City, so many guards of Xiguguan have a good understanding of Tongzhou.

Cheng Yishi asked again: "How many defenders are there in Tongzhou now?" ”

"There aren't many troops." A man beside him said: "Most of the main forces of the Xishan Army have been deployed to Liangzhou, beware of the Jinling Dao Association taking the opportunity to attack Xishan." All the soldiers and horses in Xishan Road add up to not much, and the Weisu army has been transferred to the northwest to fight the Xiliang people, and Tongzhou should only have more than a thousand soldiers and horses now. ”

"General, are you worried that the Northwest Army will come over?" One of them asked.

Cheng Yishi didn't answer, but sighed softly: "Brothers, let's go to Tongzhou to rest, I'm afraid that we will suffer some wretchedness, you all have to suppress your temper and don't make trouble in Tongzhou!" ”

Everyone was stunned, and soon understood that the soldiers and horses guarding the pass had lost the pass, so the wolf bèi could not afford to retreat to Tongzhou, and in the eyes of the Tongzhou soldiers and horses, it was just a defeated army that the wolf bèi could not bear.

Xishan was previously ordered by the imperial court to allocate a large number of grain and grass to support the northwest, the people of Xishan were not lightly taxed, and the grain and grass reserves in Xishan were already very scarce, although there was no need to continue to supply grain and grass to the northwest, but also to bear the military rations of the five thousand defenders of Xigu Pass, which was a big burden for Xishan Road after all.

The local soldiers and horses in Xishan, because of the shortage of money and food, once cut the soldiers' rations, especially the Tongzhou soldiers and horses, barely half full, and often have to transport the grain and grass to the Xigu Pass, it is inevitable that the Xigu Pass defenders will be a little unpleasant, and the Xigu Pass defenders will naturally not be polite to the defenders in such a place, so every time the grain and grass are transported over, there will be some small friction.

This time, Cheng Yishi came over with the defeated soldiers, and he had already expected that he would be ridiculed by the local army.

The pig people were reminded of sincerity, and they all immediately reacted, and a rather short-tempered Du Shi said: "General, since this is the case, let's not enter Tongzhou City at all!" ”

Someone next to him immediately sneered: "Don't enter Tongzhou? Where to go? Going to Hexi? In this way, without the order of the imperial court, how can we go to Hexi? Now we don't have a single grain in our hands, and we won't be able to walk for a few days, and we will all starve to death. ”

"That's easy to do, let's go outside Tongzhou City first, isn't it that they haven't transported the grain and grass this time? It's very good, let's let them hand over the grain and grass to us, with food, no matter where they go, it is better than going to Tongzhou City. ”

"Jokes." Another said: "Hand over the grain and grass? We look like this now, do you think Xu Qing will hand over the food to us? When the time comes, he can block us with a word. ”

"What?"

"Xishan supplies us with grain and grass because we want to guard Xigu Pass, and now that the pass is lost, will they continue to provide us with food?"

"Damn, if they don't give it, let's grab it."

"You're going to rebel?" One sneered.

Cheng Yishi frowned and said in a deep voice: "When is it, do you still have the heart to quarrel here?" Shut up. ”

Everyone was still a little afraid of Cheng Yishi, they all stopped talking, and Cheng Yishi said in a deep voice: "Let's rush to Tongzhou City as much as possible, no matter what, now Tongzhou City is temporarily resting, and at the same time send someone to report to Hexi immediately, and wait for the will of the imperial court to come down before taking action!" ”

A person next to him frowned and said, "General, it is not difficult to report to the imperial court, but the difficulty lies in how to report it." Although we withdrew and Xigu Pass was also lost, we still haven't figured out how it was lost. How did the Northwest Army break into the pass, but we were guarding an iron wall, which was lost overnight, how could the imperial court not ask the reason? ”

When the others heard this, their expressions were even more gloomy.

Cheng Yishi also frowned, but he also cited this as a problem, and reported to the court, naturally he had to explain the cause and effect clearly, and now he only knew that the pass was lost, but he didn't know the reason, and how to make this move to the court.

At this moment, he heard a man whisper: "Listen! ”

And all the people looked at him, and the man, who was evidently very alert, had gotten up, walked out into the road, leaned down, put his ears to the ground, frowned, and quickly got up, and went round in all directions.

Seeing this, Cheng Yishi knew that there must be a reason, so he and everyone stood up, pressed the saber in his hand, stepped forward, and asked, "What's wrong?" ”

"The sound of horses' hooves!" The man frowned and said, "General, if you listen carefully, there seems to be the sound of horses' hooves!" ”

"The sound of horses' hooves?" Cheng Yishi was stunned, "From which direction?" ”

The man shook his head and said, "I can't be sure, it seems to be from the west, it seems to be the north again, and there seems to be the sound of horses' hooves from the south to the south!" ”R1058