The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 368
Taibai Mountain in Fufeng County is the highest peak in the Qinling Mountains, also known as Taiyi Mountain. It is said that it is the place where the real Taiyi practiced.Since ancient times, Taibai Mountain has been famous all over the world for its characteristics of high, cold, dangerous, strange, rich and mysterious, and dominates Guanzhong.

Taibai Mountain is the highest peak in Guanzhong. Taibai Mountain is imposing and has no wind and rain. It is only accessible to people in the hot summer of June. It is commonly called "Kaishan".

Dongshan is a low-lying mountainous area with a relatively small difference in height, and it is unimpeded in all seasons. However, the mountains here are steep and covered with dense forests. Occasionally, there are large areas of exposed steep walls. There are thousands of rocks, some as small as cobblestones, some as tall as several floors, and a winding and long mountain road passes through rocks of all sizes.

The vast Taibai Mountain was exceptionally quiet, there were rustling sounds from the woods and rock gaps on both sides, and occasionally a night owl screamed strangely from a tree, which was creepy.

But soon, the Silent Mountain Road was broken by an army. A group of about [-] infantrymen quickly climbed up with horizontal knives and crossbows on their backs.

The leading general is Xue Wanjun, and beside him is his fifth younger brother Xue Wanbei. The two brothers were ordered by Yang Tong to lead 4 "mountain soldiers" to lurk in Taibai Mountain. For some reason, until a few days ago, they saw some young Zhuang brought simple 'weapons' into the mountain one after another. In total, there were at least [-] to [-] people. Only then did the Xue brothers know that someone planned to gather a crowd here to rebel.It's just that these thieves' plans were not secret, and the court knew about them in advance.

In the morning, they received an eagle letter from Chang'an, saying that these people might go down the mountain tonight, and asked their brothers to destroy these people.

Letting their brothers wipe out 4 to [-] people with a number of [-] is ridiculous and absurd, but it is not impossible to launch an attack by taking advantage of the mountain and geographical advantages.

"Daoist Songyang, you said that there is only one way up and down Dongshan Mountain, are you sure?" Xue Wanjun asked the army to rest on the spot, and then observed the terrain with a Taoist priest.

This Taoist priest named Songyang was a Taoist priest in the Taiyi Palace in the high mountain area of ​​Taibai Mountain. When he came to suppress the bandits, he took the initiative to lead the way for Xue Wanjun. After some questioning, Xue Wanjun finally believed that he was sincerely serving the court.

"Li Daoyuan of the Northern Wei Dynasty said in "Shui Jing Zhu" that 'Mount Taibai is the most outstanding among all the mountains. It is snow-covered in winter and summer, and it looks bright'. It means that Mount Taibai is covered with snow all the year round. Looking from the top of the mountain, it is often white. On the east side of the mountain, when there is rarely snow in a year, if the army is stationed there, the huge amount of supplies consumed every day cannot keep up. This is one of the reasons; "

Daoist Songyang said this, pointed forward and said: "Please look at it, General."

Xue Wanjun followed the trend and saw a huge rock that seemed to fall from the sky, just inlaid in the middle of the narrow cliff, blocking the entire valley road tightly. This rock was about eight feet wide and more than ten feet high, covered with There are vines and moss, and a five-foot-wide crack is split in the middle of the rock, which can only be passed on foot.

"This is the best way to go after the mountain is blocked by heavy snow. Other places are difficult to climb, and this gap is nearly a mile long. If I were the leader of an army, I would never lead the army until I died. Does the general think it's going up?" Daoist Songyang said.

"The Taoist priest is very knowledgeable!" Xue Wanjun said with a smile
Daoist Songyang shook his head and said, "It's not because of knowledge, but because I've lived on the mountain for a long time and know the pros and cons of Taibai Mountain!"

Xue Wanjun reviewed Dongshan's topography and had already made a plan.

"Is the general planning to attack with fire?"

"Yes!" Xue Wanjun nodded and said with a smile, "Does the Daoist feel unbearable?"

"There's nothing I can't bear!" Daoist Songyang smiled wryly, and said: "Although the poor Taoist is not involved in the world, regardless of the disputes in the world, he can see from the changes in Guanzhong that the general trend and the hearts of the people are in the Great Sui Dynasty; but these people are doing it for the self-interest of the family If you insist on resisting Master Wang, even if you gain momentum for a while, it will only lead the world into a longer war."

"If killing 4 or 4 people can save tens of thousands of people and save thousands of people from the suffering of war, these [-] or [-] people should be killed. It doesn't matter whether they are right or wrong!"

Xue Wanjun was in awe: "The Taoist priest sees more clearly than most people in the world, which I admire very much... If everyone thinks like the Taoist priest, it will be the great fortune of our family..."

"General, it's getting late!" Daoist Songyang looked at the sky and said, "In half an hour, it will be completely dark, which is not good for marching."

"Thank you, Daoist, for the reminder."

Xue Wanjun bowed, returned to the camp, and led [-] Sui troops to take a shortcut to the back of Dongshan, less than six miles away from the rebel camp.Guided by Taoist Songyang, they approached the rebel camp from a densely forested Qingxi.

……

Under Taibai Mountain, Wentang Town is small and dilapidated, with a circumference of only three miles. Because it is a barren mountainous area, the output is not high, and the people of the town have been relocated to the fertile Tianshui County.

In the deepest part of the town, a large-scale wooden building stood in the most eye-catching position. At this moment, people kept rushing into the building. The building was extremely dilapidated, but the interior was extremely spacious.

A big man was sitting on the steps. There was a long scar on the face of this big man. This scar stretched from his left cheek to his right cheek, and directly cut his nose scar into upper and lower sections. There is a big hole, and you can almost see the cheekbone inside.

There are more than a hundred people sitting below him, some of them are 50 years old, some are 30 or [-] years old, they are of different ages, there are men and women, there are monks and laymen, and even farmers.Some people had long swords hanging from their waists, and some people were wearing horizontal knives. These people seemed to be acquainted with each other, but at the same time they seemed to be strangers from all over the world, but at this moment they gathered in one place at the same time.

But obviously, they are all headed by that terrifying man.

"Brother, these two are from Webster. Not only are they highly skilled in martial arts, but they were also brave soldiers in General Wei Daoer's army in the past." A lean man smiled at the big man.

"Oh?" The big man looked down at the two of them, one of them had a broad shoulders and a round waist, and he was full of viciousness. He had obviously killed someone before, so he couldn't help but nodded in praise: "Like a man."

The other one was relatively ordinary, but with a fierce beast-like light in his eyes, he nodded slightly and said to the two: "You two were also General Wei Daoer's subordinates in the past?"

"That's right." The brawny man nodded and said, "At the beginning a certain followed General Wei, who was defeated by General Wei in Queshu Valley. He hid in Tibet for these years, and escaped with Webster's protection. This time he was ordered to come here. Heed the command of the general, never would have thought that the general would be General Zhen."

"You recognize me?" the big man asked in surprise.

"You are General Wei, sit down and your name is Zhen Kuan. Someone once saw you by General Wei's side."

"Who are you?" Zhen Kuan asked.

"The villain used to be General Wei's personal guard, named Wei Bi."

"Wei Bi? I've heard of you. You claim to be the number one personal guard under General Wei." Zhen Kuan stood up with a smile: "With the help of General Wei Bi, our army is like a tiger with wings added!"

"General Zhen is overrated." Wei Bi had a bit of confidence in his eyes.

Zhen Kuan laughed loudly, and a look of ambition flashed in his terrifying eyes. He was indeed one of Wei Daoer's generals at the beginning, but he was under the command of his cousin Zhen Dier. In the 12th year, under the order of Wei Dao'er, he led a crowd of [-] to attack Taiyuan. Sui general Pan Changwen was defeated and killed.Yang Guangming was still General You Xiaowei at that time, Li Yuan of Tang Guogong stayed behind in Taiyuan, Hu Benlang general Wang Wei, Hu Yalang general Gao Junya as his deputy, and the three of them led troops to attack Zhen Zhai'er.Encounter with Zhen Dier in Queshu Valley, the Sui army defeated Wei Daoer's more than [-] troops, and Zhen Dier died in battle.

At that time, Li Yuan recruited Zhen Zhai'er's forces in order to prepare for the army, and constantly expanded his own strength. Zhen Kuan was one of them.

Zhen Kuan's traitorous nature has not been eliminated, and he is not satisfied with the status quo. He has always dreamed of getting out of Li Yuan's control like his cousin got rid of Wei Dao'er. However, he is called the chief general, but the hundreds of people in front of him are all confidantes of the Guanlong family and look down on him who was born as a bandit. Therefore, if he wants to be self-reliant, he must get rid of these people. The best way is undoubtedly to borrow the help of the Sui army Kill these people with one hand, and then sneak into the Qinling Mountains with the soldiers on the mountain, and reorganize into an army with one heart and one mind.

Zhen Kuan is very excited about the arrival of Wei Bi, who is also in the same line, as long as he subdues him, he will add another officer out of thin air.

At this moment, someone exclaimed: "Fire, a big fire broke out on the mountain!"

Zhen Kuan was stunned for a moment, got up and looked up the mountain, and saw that the Taibai Mountain was really ablaze, the fire was more than a dozen miles away, and it was burning in the direction of the military camp, Zhen Kuan seemed to have stepped on the ground, and his heart fell into the abyss It was over, his self-reliance dream was over.

He stared blankly at Taibai Mountain with a look of despair.

"Enemy attack... ah~"

Before Zhen Kuan could say anything, there was a short scream from outside, and the lifeless corpse of the soldier in charge of the guard had fallen from the roof, breaking the dead silence in the courtyard. .

"Puff puff~"

The shrill sound of piercing the air, the sound of screams, and the sound of sharp weapons tearing muscles suddenly came one after another. The soldiers standing on the heights were shot down one by one, and immediately after, the courtyard door was slammed open.

A slender cavalry general in armor, a Shura visor, and a war robe leaped in. It was actually a female general.

Following her appearance, there was a sudden light sound on the roof, and nearly a hundred slender and slender figures were like civet cats under the moon, holding gleaming crossbows in their hands.

The icy murderous intent slowly approached with the faint fragrance of wind, and the two people who had reacted rushed towards the female general at the door, but what responded to them was a burst of crossbow arrows.

"Kill!" Under the ferocious and cold Shura's mask, an indifferent voice suddenly came.

In an instant, the pretty female soldiers pulled their crossbows one after another, and a crossbow arrow shot towards more than a hundred people in the courtyard from all directions.

The scene suddenly became chaotic, and the people inside were shot and screamed again and again, and fell to the ground one after another, shouting in horror.

"Kill it out."

Zhen Kuan grabbed Wei Bi by his side as a shield in time, and escaped by luck. Seeing that the crossbow arrows were no longer falling, he swung his knife to kill the female general.

The female general made a move with her arm, and a strong crossbow in each hand. Under Zhen Kuan's dismay, two crossbow arrows were nailed to his knees fiercely, and Zhen Kuan screamed and fell to the ground.

Dozens of female soldiers rushed in from both sides of the female general, and a burst of gunfire stabbed Zhen Kuan to death on the ground.

"You are good!" the female general said lightly.

(End of this chapter)