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Yan'en County, Youzhou Governor's Office.

As night fell, the entire city of Yan'en was covered in gloomy clouds and mist, and fear spread. In the evening, a few days ago, he led the army to support the Jingluo military city, and returned to the city in embarrassment. When he went, there were 3,000 elite party soldiers and horses, but when he came back, there were less than 2,000 remnants of the defeated army.

As soon as Tuoba Sigong returned to Yan'en City, he immediately ordered the gates to be closed, and a curfew was immediately imposed. The number of guards at the head of the city has also doubled, and there are constant patrols in the city.

As soon as he returned to the Thorn History Mansion, Tuoba Sigong's third brother Tuoba Sizhong broke in directly and drank away a few maids. sat down and poured a glass of wine and drank it all: "Big brother, this time we suffered such a big loss, all because we were instigated by Li Jing's messenger, so many brothers died, and we also lost the Jingluo Military City. ”

"That's Li Jing's messenger, you can kill it if you say kill?" Tuoba Sigong's face was not very good.

At the beginning, Li Guochang sent someone to ask him to start an incident, but he didn't agree after thinking about it for a long time. Although he saw the decay of the Tang Dynasty in his eyes, as the saying goes, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse, and a rotten ship has three pound nails. The party is originally a branch of the Xiqiang people, so it is also known as the party Xiang Qiang.

During the Han Dynasty, a large number of Qiang people moved to Helong and Guanzhong. At this time, the Dangxiang people lived a primitive nomadic tribe life that did not know the crops and the grass and trees. They took the tribe as the division unit and the surname as the tribal name, and gradually formed the famous Eight Departments of the Party. Among them, the Tuoba clan is the strongest. In addition, there are tribes such as the Black Party and the Snow Mountain Clan.

During the Sui Dynasty. Some of the party items began to be attached. Follow the Central Plains regime.

During the Tang Dynasty, after two internal migrations, the party was gradually concentrated in the eastern part of Gansu and the northern part of Shaanxi, including Lingzhou, Qingzhou, Xiazhou, Yinzhou, Suizhou, Yanzhou, Shengzhou and other prefectures, which were still dominated by scattered tribes. They lived together with the Murowei, the migrated Tuguhun and the Han Chinese. The economy is dominated by animal husbandry, and the "party item horse" is famous for a while.

At present, the central royal family of the Tang Dynasty has lost its prestige, and the local feudal towns are sitting large. The Hu people, who lived in the border areas, also gradually became stronger. Shatuo, Dangxiang, Hui, Turkic, Qibi, and Tuyuhun people all began to have soldiers and horses, especially with the strongest Shatuo people, the leader Zhu Xie Chi was given the surname Li and had his own territory.

After the party members attached to the Tang Dynasty, they have been fighting for the Tang Dynasty, and every time the Tang Dynasty fights, the party members have participated in the war, and their strength is not less than that of the Shatuo people, but they don't even have a piece of their own territory. The original Youzhou assassin was brutal and unkind. The people complained a lot, and Tuoba Sigong finally seized this opportunity to get rid of him. Self-appointed assassin history. However, he is very low-key, although he drove away the assassin and called himself the assassin, but he has no intention of rebellion. The assassin was just driven away, and he was still careful to obey the imperial court.

On the one hand, he spent a lot of money, took the path of the eunuch Ximen Sigong, and worshiped under the door of Prime Minister Zheng Jin, so that he could be recognized by the imperial court and admit his assassination history. It was not easy to seize a piece of the territory of the party members, how could Tuoba Sigong be willing to follow Li Guochang to rebel?

However, he didn't want to offend Li Guochang directly, and planned to be perfunctory. However, later, the envoy of Li Jing of the Zhendong Army suddenly arrived and gave him a thousand taels of gold.

At that time, when the envoy said that Li Guochang had plans to annex Youzhou and the Party Headquarters, Tuoba Sigong was still a little skeptical. However, after Li Jing sent a messenger to send two thousand taels of gold, Tuoba Sigong still failed to refuse this temptation, not to mention that Li Jing not only gave him three thousand taels of gold, but also promised him that when Li Guochang's rebellion was suppressed, he would be rewarded with a great contribution to the Son of Heaven. More importantly, Li Jing's envoy explained to him that Li Guochang would definitely come to attack Youzhou, and promised to help them then.

What Li Jing's envoy said really confirmed that Li Guochang did have the intention of annexing him. After the battle of Jingluocheng, Tuoba Sigong, who had been unconvinced by the Shatuo people, was also beaten a little frightened, and it can be said that half of the soldiers and horses he had accumulated with great difficulty were gone.

"This damn Li Jing, didn't he say that he would send troops to help us when he was critical? What about his people? Tuoba Sizhong said angrily. None of these Han Chinese have a good thing! ”

Tuoba Sigong had a calm face and sat silently on the chair.

"Big brother, it's better to take advantage of the fact that the soldiers and horses of the Shatuo people have not arrived now, we will pack up the soldiers and horses and immediately retreat to the Tiande army. Didn't Li Jing's envoy say that if the situation is not right, can we temporarily withdraw to the Tiande Army, the new Jiedu envoy of the Tiande Army, Yu Xuan, is Li Jing's teacher, and they should be able to contain us. ”

"To the Heavenly German Army? It's easy to go now, but it's hard to come back. Third, this Youzhou is the territory that our five brothers and many brothers have fought hard. If we lose it now, there will be no place for us in this Youzhou. What's more, defecting to others will inevitably lead to the fate of being annexed. Tuoba Sigong said gloomily.

Tuoba Sizhong hurriedly said: "But we only have a total of 3,000 soldiers and horses left, and if such a few men and horses are defended, it will be equivalent to defending to the death, big brother." Where there is life, there is hope. I think that the Helian Department of Tuyuhun is now following Yu Xuan, it is said that it is not bad, and there is a rich pasture in Datong River. ”

"You let me think about it again, unless it is absolutely necessary, Youzhou must not be lost." It's hard to start a business, and if you lose this map, it's hard to get another one. "You go and invite Mr. Li to come, I believe that General Li Jing will not speak and count, sit and watch us in danger, and we will not be saved when we die."

Li Jing's envoy stayed in Yan'en City, and without waiting for Tuoba Sizhong to invite him, he had already come to the door himself.

Li Wei, who is over forty years old, is Li Jing's uncle, and in his early years, like Li Jing's father, he served as a miscellaneous foreign official outside, and did not enter the flow of foreign officials. After Li Jing was promoted to become an official, the Li family, which had been scattered due to the rebellion of the imperial court in Pinglu Longjun, finally reunited and surrounded Li Jing.

Although the two generations of the Li family have declined, it can be regarded as a big family of hundreds of people before, and Li Jing's uncle's generation basically abandoned martial arts and followed literature, and more or less studied literature, most of them were small officials, and some were engaged in family farming. Now, Li Jing has also arranged these clansmen into the Zhendong Army and Dengzhou Prefecture.

Li Wei is over forty years old, and he has been very unsatisfactory for most of his life. Unexpectedly, when they reached middle age, their nephews suddenly got ahead, and they all followed the chickens and dogs to heaven. Although Li Wei has been unsatisfactory for half his life, he has been a miscellaneous official for many years, and he still has a lot of experience, and he is soon a member of the secretary of the Zhendong Army, under the management of Guo Chengan. On this mission to Youzhou, Li Jing chose this experienced and reliable uncle as an envoy.

"Tuoba envoy, I heard that you returned to Yan'en, so I came uninvited, please forgive me." As soon as Li Wei entered the room, he immediately said in a loud voice.

Tuoba Sigong nodded: "I was about to invite Mr. Li to come, well, who is this?" Seeing a stranger following behind Li Wei, Tuoba Sigong asked suspiciously.

"Let me introduce myself, in Xia Li Yang, I just came from Hedong to recruit from the north to recruit the east camp." The man in his thirties arched his hand.

"Camp on behalf of the north and east? But under the command of the Duke of Li Jun? Tuoba Sigong's heart moved.

"Exactly, under the current staff officer of the eastern camp, Sima Li Zhen of the camp is a certain brother!" The visitor introduced himself with a smile.

Hearing that the other party was actually the younger brother of Li Jing's first strategist Li Zhen, Tuoba Sigong couldn't help but perk up. Li Jing sent such an important person to come, and it seems that he is going to fulfill his promise.

"Since the two gentlemen came, they must have already known that our army had been defeated in Jingluo Military City. Our department resisted desperately, but we were outnumbered. I have already done my best according to the will of the county prince, but now the Shatuo people are about to be killed, and I don't know if the reinforcements of the Zhenjiang army in Ludao have arrived? ”

Li Yang shook his head: "This time I came alone, and I didn't come with any soldiers and horses. ”

Tuoba Sigong's eyes immediately turned a little dull, and he was disappointed in his heart.

Li Yang smiled lightly: "Tuoba envoy doesn't need to be disappointed, in fact, I am here to congratulate you this time." ”

"What's the joy of?" Tuoba Sigong was a little confused.

"He envoy Jun broke Li Guochang!"

"Huh?"

Li Yang chuckled and said: "This is a big gift from my county lord for the envoy, I don't know if the envoy can catch it." ”

Tuoba Sigong was whetted and hurriedly asked what was going on.

"My county prince has now captured Ulzhou, Li Keyong's backyard, and has marched to Yunzhou. On the other hand, my county sent a letter to his division, and the Tiande army sent troops to attack Li Guochang's nest Shan Yudufu. Before I set off for the south, Yu Gong led the Tiande army and the Helian army to attack the Shan Yu Duhu Mansion. This news may not have reached Li Guochang's army yet, and you should be more prophetic than him. ”

Tuoba Sigong was a little stunned in shock, unable to believe it. "The Tiande army has already broken through the Shan Yu Duhu Mansion?"

"It's the Tiande Army and the Tuyuhun Helian Division." Li Yang smiled, "Right now, my county duke has recovered Ulzhou, Yu Gong and Helian have captured the Shan Yu Duhu Mansion, the old nest of the Shatuo people has fallen, and the defeat is imminent, this great opportunity for meritorious service should not be missed." At this time, if the Tuoba Department can defeat Li Guochang, it will be a great achievement. ”

Tuoba Sizhong said on the side: "But Li Guochang has 10,000 soldiers and horses under his command, although Jingluo Juncheng has lost more than 1,000 people, but there are still 8 or 9,000 people, and we only have 3,000 men and horses, which is not their opponent." ”

"Where are there still 9,000 men and horses, I dare to assure you that after tonight, Li Guochang will have a maximum of 3,000 men left. Three thousand against three thousand, could it be that the party warriors of the Tuoba Department would not be able to defeat the same number of Shatuo people? Li Yang said.

After the first battle of the military city, Tuoba Sigong knew in his heart that three thousand party members could not defeat three thousand Shatuo people, but at this time, he could even grit his teeth. What a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. "As long as Mr. can really put the 6,000 Zhenwu troops in order, the remaining 3,000 Shatuo people will be handed over to my Tuoba Department!"

"Okay, it's a deal!" (To be continued......)