In the dark and rumbling night, the 5,000 cavalry of the Tang Army ran all the way along the south bank of the Yellow River, with the stars on their heads, and under the faint starlight, the 5,000 cavalry galloped eastward on the land covered with vast snow.

At the front of the team, Xu Shiji's eyes were calm and thoughtful, his lips were stretched into a straight line, and he seemed to have made some kind of decision.

He looked up at the situation around him, under the cover of night, the surrounding scenery seemed a little blurry, there were villages, there were woods, and in the distance were black rolling mountains, although it was difficult to distinguish the scenery in the night, but he still judged that Sanlin Town, Lingchang County, was here, and he had passed here several times.

Xu Shiji pondered for a long time, and suddenly remembered something, he reined in his war horse and said to the deputy general Luo Ziyu: "I will go to Lingchang County, at most one hour, you lead the army to wait here." ”

Luo Ziyu nodded, turned back to the soldiers and shouted, "Rest on the spot for an hour!" ”

The soldiers dismounted one after another to rest, and Xu Shiji, with two hundred personal guards, turned his horse's head and ran towards Lingchang County, ten miles to the south.

Lingchang County is very small, only more than 1,000 households, there is no strategic position here, and naturally there is no garrison, only more than 100 township soldiers, commanded by the county order, at this time it is already two watches, the city gate has long been closed, Xu Shiji bribed the defenders with ten taels of silver to open the city gate, he rushed into the city with two hundred cavalry.

Xu Shiji is not looking for the county order, the county order here is lonely and unheard, he doesn't know what is going on in the world, and after about a hundred steps into the city, he found his target, an inn.

A tattered lantern hung at the door of the inn, swaying in the wind, the faint light flickered on and off, and the word 'each' was written on the lantern, which could be seen very clearly at night under the reflection of the light.

This is it, Xu Shiji turned over and dismounted, stepped forward and kicked open the door, and walked into the inn. A man on night duty heard the sound of kicking the door and ran out, but he was trembling when he saw a large group of soldiers entering the courtyard. Stammered: "Guest.... Want... Do you stay at the hotel? ”

"Your shopkeeper is Xu Afu?"

"Yes!"

"Tell him to come out to me."

"Goro, who is it!" The lights in one room came on, and the voice of a middle-aged man was heard.

Xu Shiji heard this voice, raised his voice and said, "It's me, the fourth master of your family, can't you hear my voice?" ”

There was silence in the room for a moment, and then suddenly 'Ah! 'Boom. Immediately after that, the sound of Suosuo's dressing and the woman's voice complained, the door opened, and a middle-aged man who looked rather obese rushed out like a wind, plopping! knelt in front of Xu Shiji and cried loudly, "Childe, you're finally back." ”

This middle-aged man was an old servant in Xu Shiji's family, and he followed Xu Shiji to Wagang back then. As one of the four outposts of the Wagang Army, Xu Shiji lost contact with him after fleeing Luokou City, and later heard that he had been demoted to Lingchang County. Responsible for the message transmission point in Lingchang County, this inn is a message transmission point set up by the Wagang Army in Lingchang County.

Xu Shiji felt a little sour in his heart, and hurriedly helped him up, "Ah Fu, I have also been inquiring about your news, and you have been wronged for half a year." ”

Xu Afu wiped away his tears, "I haven't suffered any grievances, son-in-law go to the guest hall to sit!" It's a little warmer there. ”

"Dead mother-in-law, get up! It's the son who is here, and he burns ginger tea. ”

He yelled viciously into the room, and ordered his men to arrange for the soldiers to rest. Only then did he lead Xu Shiji into the guest hall, Xu Afu lit the lamp, and was busy burning the charcoal basin, Xu Shiji stopped him and said with a smile: "I still have important things, I'll leave if I ask you something." ”

"What does Childe want to ask. Just say! ”

Xu Shiji pondered for a moment and asked, "Who is the master of Liyang City, you should know!" ”

"I know this, it's that Sun Dagun, Sun Changle."

"It turned out to be him!"

Xu Shiji knew that this person was originally one of the four fierce under Zhai Rang, known as the iron snake with change, and pointed out that he made a big iron spear with excellent marksmanship, and was a fierce general with high martial arts.

Xu Shiji thought about it again and asked, "Should his wife be in Weicheng County?" ”

"I don't know too much about this, but he is a member of Boss Zhai's family, and it stands to reason that his family should be in Wagang, not Luokou."

"I see."

Xu Shiji sighed and said, "Ah Fu, I thought you would be involved by me, I've been worried about you!" ”

Xu Afu's tears welled up again, and he lowered his head and said: "Li Mi ordered Fang Xuanzao to clean up Gongzi's subordinates, I was originally going to be convicted, but Brother Shan interceded for me, so I was demoted to Lingchang County, and I have no place to go, so I can only live here and live one day at a time." ”

Xu Afu knelt down and begged, "Childe take me away!" I don't want to stay here, I don't want to die for the Wagang Army. ”

Xu Shiji hurriedly helped him up, "Hurry up, don't be like this!" ”

Xu Shiji thought for a while, took out a name card from his arms and handed it to him, "There is an address on the name card, you take your wife to Taiyuan, my father, wife and children are there, they will settle you well, and follow me in the future and live a quiet life." ”

Xu Afu took the name post, and was very grateful in his heart, "Thank you, son!" ”

At this time, Xu Afu's lady came in with a bowl of ginger tea, "Childe, please drink ginger tea." ”

"Thank you, sister-in-law, I'm leaving!"

Xu Shiji stood up, took the ginger tea and drank it all, and said with a smile: "Let's see you in Taiyuan!" ”

Xu Shiji left the inn with his men, turned over his horse, and ran towards the city gate, Xu Afu stood at the door and watched them walk away, he let out a long sigh, turned back and told his wife, "Let's pack up our things!" Go to Taiyuan early tomorrow morning. ”……

Xu Shiji walked out of the city gate and quickly returned to the army camp, although he had been running for a day, he was not tired at all, and when he ran back to the camp, he shouted: "Set off immediately and go to Weicheng County to rest." ”

He understood that the governor wanted him to take Liyang City within three days, and he didn't have the idea of letting him attack the city at all, he was the fourth leader of the Wagang Army, and he was the elder of the Wagang Army, if he took a Liyang City, he would have to rely on bloody battles, and he would really be laughed at by the world.

Tomorrow is the twenty-ninth day of the lunar month, and he wants the soldiers to have a Chinese New Year's Eve Chinese New Year's Eve meal in Liyang City no matter what, but it is still two hundred miles away from Liyang City, and the pressure is very high.

Five thousand cavalry mounted their horses and continued their march eastward.

The sky is twilight, five thousand Sui army cavalry arrived in the west of Weicheng County, here is the hinterland of the Wagang Army, Wagang Village is ten miles away in the southwest, if last year, they can't enter here at all, but since Zhai Rang's death, Li Mi in order to cut off the emotional sustenance of the Wagang Army soldiers to the old days, ordered to give up Wagang Village, the former prosperous Wagang Village fell silent, only a few thousand old and weak stationed here, Weicheng County is the capital of the heyday of the Wagang Army, here was also abandoned, Weicheng County also has only more than 1,000 old and weak garrisons, The guard's name is Song Jianpu, and he is also Zhai Rang's old subordinate, so he can't be reused by Li Mi, so he was relegated here to guard Zhai Rang's tomb.

Xu Shiji handed over the war horse to his own soldiers, slowly walked to a large tomb, and stared at the tombstone silently, there were only six words engraved on the tombstone, 'Wagang Zhai Rang's Tomb'.

There are incense candles lit in front of the tomb, a narrow ditch is full of incense ashes, it can be seen that there have been countless people who have come here to worship the old master, Zhai Rang single-handedly founded the Wagang Army, he is the soul of the Wagang Army, since Li Mi killed Zhai Rang, although the Wagang Army came alive, attacked Luoyang, and commanded the heroes of the world, but it lost its soul, and the Wagang Army was no longer the Wagang Army of 400,000 soldiers, but Li Mi alone Wagang Army, everyone was lost, and I don't know where the Wagang Army will go?

Xu Shiji slowly knelt down in front of the tomb and said in a low voice: "Brother Zhai, the fourth brother has come to see you, although when we were together, I always complained that my brother had no ambition and complained that my brother had no long-term vision, but until today I know that I was wrong, I was too shallow to understand the general trend of the world, our Wagang Army has no chance to win the world at all, brothers can still start and finish well with you, and you can go home to farm, and following Li Mi will only ruin the entire Central Plains, hundreds of thousands of soldiers will fill the corpse ditch, Brother Zhai, the fourth brother confesses and apologizes to you!" ”

Tears welled up in Xu Shiji's eyes, he kowtowed three times, he raised a hand, and said solemnly: "I, Xu Shiji, swear here, I will do my best to save the lives of thousands of Wagang soldiers, so that they can start and finish well, Brother Zhai, I beg your spirit in the sky to protect me!" ”

Xu Shiji wiped away the tears in his eyes, got up and strode away......

Half an hour later, the five thousand cavalry arrived at the city of Weicheng County, Weicheng County only a thousand old and weak soldiers stationed, they looked at the five thousand cavalry from a distance and rushed murderously, lined up a neat cavalry formation outside the city, the war horses were strong, the armor was bright, the spears were like a forest, the red flag was like a cloud, the momentum was majestic and mighty, and the soldiers guarding the city were frightened one by one with a face like earth.

Song Jianpu, the general defending the city, rushed to the city when he heard the news, and he was stunned by the formation in front of him, they had not seen such a powerful cavalry for a long time.

"General Song, their battle flag is a red flag, is it the Luoyang Sui Army?" A lieutenant asked nervously.

"Impossible! How could the Luoyang Sui army have so many war horses? ”

Song Jianpu shook his head in denial, and then he saw a black eagle on a big banner, and he blurted out, "It's the Northern Sui cavalry!" ”

The soldiers at the head of the city were in an uproar, it turned out to be Yang Yuanqing's army who killed them, could it be that the Wagang army was destroyed?

Song Jianpu was full of doubts in his heart, he hadn't heard anything happened in Luokou City at all, how could the Northern Sui army kill here?

At this time, a cavalryman under the city rushed to the city and shouted loudly: "Is there General Song Jianpu at the head of the city?" ”

Song Jianpu was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly asked in a loud voice: "I am Song Jianpu, what is the matter with you?" ”

The cavalry responded: "We are passing by here, and my general is the old man of the Wagang Army, and I want to talk to General Song." ”

After the cavalry finished speaking, he opened his bow and shot a letter at the head of the city, and a soldier picked up the letter and ran to Song Jianpu, who took the letter and asked, "Who is your general?" ”

"My general's surname is Xu, and he once sat in the fourth position of the Wagang Army, you all know each other."

"Four masters!" The veterans at the head of the city exclaimed.