On the Ruzhou Mountain Road in the northwest of Yanjing, several knights with bald hair and left leather robes are speeding southward, gradually entering the valley mouth between the three mountain ranges of Yinshan, Yanshan and Taihang Mountain.

As the sun sets, the long, dark and steep mountain valley road seems to be a crack left by the collision of three giant dragons, and this is the gateway to the northern resort. It has always been the passage for the east of the river to enter the grassland and enter the Yanzhao, and it is also the pass for the land of Youyan to enter and exit the Jin. One place is connected to Hedong, Hebei, and Saiwai grassland.

After Li Jing shifted his focus to Yanjing, the status of this place became more and more important.

Li Jing once said to the generals, Ruzhou, Nanping Yanjing, the rear control of the desert, the left strangles the danger of the military capital, the right embraces the solid in the clouds, and the border is important.

This is the place where soldiers must fight, especially in today's situation, Yanjing, the center of the Qin Domain, Li Keyong in the north of Hedong, Khitan in the grassland, and Confucianism have become the three must fight for the place. Jing Xiang, the envoy of the General Staff, also said that the dispute between the mountains and rivers in Ruzhou is dangerous and narrow, and the construction of the sub-tun will be twice as good as that of other towns.

The Qin army took the Jundu Pass, and it also tightly controlled the last portal on this passage, and the entire passage was still in Li Keyong's hands.

Li Keyong first won the military capital and then lost it, and was blocked from the pass. However, Li Keyong also knew the importance of the four states in front of the mountain, after the defeat of the military capital, he reinforced most of the people in the four states in front of the mountain, in order to prevent Li Jing from attacking in Jin, the Shatuo people built two stone castles on the basin of Confucianism, one is located between Confucianism and the two states, to prevent the Qin army in the east. One was built in the northern mountain pass of Ruzhou, but it was the main road to the grassland. Obviously guarding against the Khitan, an ally. The two stone castles and the city of Ruzhou form a three-legged horn. It is the core of the Shatuo army in front of the mountain.

The heavy sound of bull's horns sounded at the head of the city. The black Shatuo clan is shrouded in the gorgeous sunset in the western sky.

When the leather-robed knight flew to the gate at a gallop, the gates of Blackstone Castle were rumbling shut. The knights' horses were extremely powerful, and their riding skills were more agile, and the horses neighed, and the knights had already crossed through the stone gate that was about to close, causing a group of Shatuo soldiers at the head of the city to cheer loudly.

"Who's the interloper?" Applause is applause, but someone breaks through, and the Shatuo soldiers still immediately ask. If it weren't for the fact that they only had a few rides. It must have rained down arrows.

"Khitan Emissary!" The knight replied in a loud voice, speaking also in Shatuo.

The Khitan and Shatuo were both once Turkic vassal tribes, but one in the west and the other in the east. And now, there is no king in the grassland, Shatuo and Khitan have gradually risen, and now they have become allies for a common goal. Nowadays, Shatuo and Khitan are in the honeymoon period, therefore. The Shatuo guards only checked the identity of the other party a little and let them go. And also specially sent a team of cavalry to escort them to Yanmen.

In the afterglow of the setting sun. The Khitan knights escorted by the Shatuo knights like a red cloud, sweeping southward across the open fields and surging rivers, and in the blink of an eye, they had already left the Black Stone Fort far behind.

"It's getting late, so let's rest here tonight and let the horses regain some strength." The Khitan knight at the head spoke.

The escorted Shatuo cavalry looked at the sky and nodded, there is no shop in front of the village here, and it is really not suitable to travel at night, so he agreed. The group rolled the saddle and dismounted, fed the horses and drank the horses, boiled water for cooking, and set up tents, all in good order.

The Khitan envoy took the initiative to chat with the Shatuo guards for a while, and then they all went to their respective accounts early to rest. The Khitan envoy even proposed very enthusiastically that their people would be on duty in the first half of the night, and the Shatuo guards said a few words, and they agreed after the last word.

Immediately galloped for a day, and soon everyone fell asleep, and the snoring sounded loudly.

In the cold autumn wind, the Khitan envoys who had been sleeping suddenly quietly came out of the tent one by one. The first Khitan envoy measured the Shatuo guard tent, and in the silver moonlight, he waved his right hand coldly and made several complicated gestures, and the other eight Khitan knights nodded and left.

The Khitan knights drew their scimitars one after another, and touched into the tent of the Shatuo guards, and after a low voice, several Khitan knights got out of the tent again.

"All of them are solved, fifty Shatuo dogs, not one left, all of them are killed." A fierce Khitan knight said in Khitan dialect.

The Khitan envoy at the head said in Chinese: "Good job. ”

Of the nine Khitan envoys in this team, except for the one who was the leader, the remaining eight were all genuine Khitans, and only the one who was the leader was actually a secret agent of the Qin Army's Military Intelligence Bureau. The sigils they were carrying were all real, and they had been taken by them by ambushing and killing the real Khitan envoys outside the stone castle. The letter carried by the Khitan envoy was also taken away by them, but the content of the letter has been changed.

Early the next morning, the nine men did not leave immediately, but continued to rest here, and one of them, the leader, left alone for half a day, and when he returned, he had already returned with fifty horsemen. After the arrival of these fifty horsemen, they immediately changed into the armor, clothing, war horses, weapons, etc., and replaced the original team. It was not until the next morning that they set off again and headed straight for Yanmen.

As we walked south, three days later, a black city stood between the mountains. From a distance, the city is not very large. In the afterglow of the setting sun, the city is like a black beast, crouching in the mountain pass.

As a group of knights galloped closer, it was gradually seen that there were black-clothed armor warriors swimming on the arrow tower of the east gate facing the sunset, and two white sand characters were written on the black flag that hunted and flew.

This is the Yanmen, the royal city of the Shatuo people today.

There are nine stops in the world, headed by Yanmen.

It is located on the Gouzhu Mountain, Xiongguan is close to the mountain, the east and west wings, and the mountains are undulating. The Great Wall of the Ridge, with its winding momentum. Go east to Taihang, go straight to Youyan, and connect to Hanhai. Go west to Luliang until the Yellow River.

The terrain of Yanmen is very dangerous, and it is a place for ancient soldiers to fight. During the Warring States Period, Li Mu, the general of Zhao State, was stationed in Yanmen, relying on the danger of closing the city, prudently defending, and defeating 100,000 Xiongnu horses; The famous generals of the Han Dynasty, Li Guang, Wei Qing, and Huo Qubing once led their troops to fight with the Xiongnu in Liao, and won a complete victory. Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty once led his troops to fight the Turks here; The Tang general Xue Rengui once chased the Turkic soldiers and horses here, and the good news was frequent.

Yanmen Pass has always been an important border town in the Central Plains. In the early years, the Shatuo people were stationed outside Yanmen Pass. Mainly in Shuozhou. Later, it developed to Yunzhou.

The first time Shatuo against the Tang Dynasty, after the battle of Daibei, Shatuo was defeated, Yunshuo and the two states were lost, and they were not allowed to flee outside the Saiwai. After Li Keyong returned to the Central Plains again, he immediately seized the opportunity to oppose the Tang Dynasty for the second time, and once captured the seven prefectures of Xin, Dai, Wei, Xin, Wu, Confucian, and Fu. After Li Ke used the second anti-Tang Dynasty, he immediately moved the center of Shatuo to Yanmen, Daizhou. also revealed his wolf ambition to fight back to Yunshuo Erzhou.

Yanmen City is not big, but it is extremely dangerous, it depends on the Yanbei Plateau in the north, and the Xinding Basin in the south. There is a husband when the pass, and there is a trend of ten thousand people not opening.

The outer strength is the same as the guard, the inner solid Taiyuan lock and key, the root is the three passes, and the throat is all Jin

If Taiyuan is the center of the entire Hedong, then Yanmen can be said to be the throat of the entire Hedong. Li Keyong runs Yanmen, with the intention of taking Yunshuo from the north. Take Taiyuan in the south, and plot the entire Hedong after the most Lu.

The whole city was made of huge strips of stone. It is more than three zhang higher than the ordinary city, and even the arrow tower is built of stone slabs. As the entrance and exit gate, there are two jack gates. The entire outer defense of the city, without a single log, ordinary fire attacks could not deal with the city at all.

What is even more impressive is that the city walls and arrow towers, gatehouses, corner towers, etc. of the whole city are painted with a layer of black lacquer, black bright and smooth, not only powerful and terrifying, but also have a very high defense function, so that the sneak attackers who climb the wall have nothing to do, the black city, the black flag, the black armor, here is a black ocean.

At dusk, the horn of the horn has sounded on the high city head, and the sparse pedestrians outside the city immediately speed up their pace into the city, and after eighteen trumpets, the gate of Yanmen will be closed, and then an hour later, the whole city will be curfew.

The horses galloped, and the knights did not slow down.

"Ruzhou Black Stone Fort escorts the Khitan envoy to arrive!" The black-clad Shatuo guard shouted loudly. Hearing the sound from the city, a group of black-clothed soldiers immediately rushed out to stand still, and later, several lieutenant officers came to check their identities. first looked at the identity card of the guards of the stone castle, and then checked the identity of the Khitan envoys, and finally confirmed that it was correct, and they personally escorted them into the city.

In Yanmen City, the market is depressed and cold, and compared with the prosperous and splendid prosperity of Dengzhou, Liaoyang, Duli Town, Qingnicheng, Yanjing and other prosperous and splendid cities in the Qin Domain, this is simply a desolate and remote rural mountain village. The lights of the shops are sporadic and the pedestrians on the streets are sparse and scattered, and under the dim lights, the few pedestrians are dressed in rough clothes and have hungry yellow faces. On this street in the center of the Shatuo people, there is no lively scene to be seen, and the commercial goods sold by the street shops are even more limited.

But on the streets, there is a post at ten paces and a sentry at five steps, and from time to time you can see patrol soldiers walking in a line with spears, and the whole city is extremely quiet and depressing.

The 'Khitan Messengers' and 'Stone Castle Guards' who were led by a group of black-clothed Shatuo soldiers were all looking at the city seriously, remembering every bit of effort they saw. Soon, the Shatuo soldiers led them to the end of the long street, where there was a high wall.

This is the tooth city of Yanmen Town, that is, the Jin Palace, which Li Ke used. The city was taller and stronger than the outer cities, and its defenses were tighter, with its gates closed and two rows of black-clad warriors standing in front of it.

Everyone stopped, and a black-clothed general came out in front of the door to greet him: "Under Li Cunxin, I came to greet the Khitan envoy by the king's order, please come with me." ”

The Khitan envoy jumped off his horse, handed over the war horse to the Shatuo people, and strode forward.

"Come, bring a few other Khitan brothers, as well as brothers from the stone castle, down to entertain." Li Cunxin stopped the others.

The Khitan envoy led by him did not object, but only smiled at Li Cunxin, which made Li Cunxin a little uncomfortable. The door of the city opened, and the two entered. When he walked through the doorway, while people were not paying attention, the leader of the Khitan envoys suddenly stuffed an object into Li Cunxin's hand, smiled at him, and showed a mouth full of white teeth.

Li Cunxin only felt that the object in his hand seemed to be a letter, and before he could see what it was, he had already heard the messenger whisper to him: "General Zhang Yanluo, His Royal Highness the King of Qin has entrusted me to greet you on his behalf." ”

At that moment, he only felt a shock all over his body, like falling into an ice cave! (To be continued......)