National color raw owl

The night is bright and the stars are sparse. Shuoquan City, the first city in the northwest, is like a huge prehistoric behemoth crawling on the vast land. The whole city is quiet and silent.

Chu Huan led the army to go out, and Shuoquan City was naturally under strict control, and curfew was indispensable. When it was dark, all the squares and cities in the city had been closed, and the people had already closed their doors. At midnight, most people in the city Has entered the dreamland.

Less than ten miles south of the city, thousands of cavalry led by Luo Dingxi had arrived like ghosts, without any lights, and under the cold moon, the whole army was silent. Looking at the distant city, they could clearly see The fire on the top of the city.

In order to save horsepower, the cavalry had already dismounted. According to Luo Dingxi's prior arrangement, the generals each brought a team of cavalry. As long as they entered the city, they could act according to the plan.

There were only two thousand soldiers left behind in Shuoquan City. The duty of these soldiers was to protect the city and maintain the law and order of Shuoquan City during Chu Huan's expedition.

Of the [-] soldiers, apart from guarding the four gates, nearly half of them were scattered throughout the city, patrolling under martial law.

The Beishan cavalry stood ready, and the eyes of all the cavalry were shining.

"Cixiu, we are waiting here, you go over to contact the internal response." Luo Dingxi stood at the front of the line with a tall and straight body, looking at Shuoquan City in the distance, "Don't delay too long!"

Cixiu nodded in agreement, quickly changed his clothes, dressed up as a businessman, and rushed to the south gate of Shuoquan City with two soldiers dressed as servants on flying horses. The guards had already heard the movement, and someone had already shouted loudly: "Who is it?"

Cixiu raised his head and said loudly: "The salt merchants in Xiajinling, I heard that Shuoquan produces salt here, so I came here to have a look."

The new salt mining in Xiguan is well known in the Northwest. Even ordinary people in the pass don’t know it, but those merchants are very clear about it. Moreover, recently, Xiguan has obtained the three counties of Beishan and opened up the road to enter the pass. New salt production has begun. For the trade of salt entering the customs, in recent days, many officials and businessmen from the customs have come to Shuoquan to discuss salt trade.

It was just right for Cixiu to use the guise of the new salt trade, and he deliberately imitated the accent of Jinling in the pass, which was also very vivid.

"The gate of the city has been closed, and there is an order from above, the gate cannot be opened." A loud voice shouted from the top of the city: "Don't say that you are a salt merchant, even a dignitary, you can't open the gate."

Cixiu said loudly: "Then is your city gate captain here? Can you accommodate me a little bit, we can't spend the night outside the city."

At this moment, a man's head poked out from the top of the city wall. The city wall was tall and the distance was a little far away. He couldn't see the man's face clearly for a while, but the man on the top of the wall said: "I am the captain of Nanmen, so what?" ?”

"Dare to ask your name?"

"My surname is Tian, ​​and I'm Xiaowei Tian." The above said loudly: "You have come too late, there is an order from above, the door can only be opened at the next hour, and there are still a few hours, you should find a place to rest outside the city and wait for dawn Open the city gate and come back!"

Cixiu said loudly: "Lieutenant Tian, ​​we are Jinling officials and merchants, and we want to purchase salt from you. We rushed along the way and missed Sutou. Please help us to open a gap and let us in. I have my own thanks. Please help me a lot."

"No, no." Tian Xiaowei said roughly: "I said that no one can open the door... By the way, you Jinling also lacks salt?"

"That's right, the salt road in the southeast has been blocked, and the supply for the experiment has been unavailable for a long time, so I came to the northwest to buy salt." Cixiu smiled and said, "Lieutenant Tian, ​​please be accommodating!"

Captain Tian shook his head and said, "I'm the one who will be punished when the city gate is opened. That's absolutely impossible."

When Cixiu was under the city gate, Luo Dingxi and the main force of the Beishan cavalry were waiting anxiously. After waiting for a long time, they saw the three cavalry in front galloping over. Well, Luo Dingxi had already asked, "Cixiu, how is the situation?"

"It's already connected." Cixiu said with a smile: "General, according to the original plan, I can take a dozen people to set up a tent outside the city gate. When the tent is on fire, the general can lead the brothers to rush over quickly. Before they shut the gates, they rushed into the city."

Luo Dingxi nodded and said, "Okay!"

Cixiu immediately summoned more than a dozen subordinates, and then took the pre-prepared tents, and approached the south gate again. Two tents were pitched on the ground, but the soldiers on the top of the city vaguely saw some people moving around the city, and even pitched the tents, some soldiers laughed and said, "Lieutenant Tian, ​​that salt merchant from Jinling seems to be a real man." Rest outside the city."

"They are not familiar with the road here, and they missed Sutou on the way, which is understandable." Tian Xiaowei put his arms on the battlements and said with a smile: "There are no towns within dozens of miles outside the city. I’m afraid they won’t be able to bear it if these noble gentlemen go to the village to make do with one night, Jinling is a place of wealth, and the people there are used to living a good life, but they are not used to the poor life in our northwest countryside.”

The soldiers discussed a few words, leaving two people standing by the battlements to observe the movement outside, while the others sat down and leaned against the wall.

"Lieutenant Tian, ​​do you think the Governor-General will be able to annihilate the Tianshan Army in one fell swoop?" A soldier glanced at Captain Tian, ​​"I heard that there are many soldiers in Tianshan, and there are also many cavalry. Our cavalry are no match for them."

"It goes without saying, of course we won." A soldier next to him said nonchalantly, "Didn't the Beishan people also be arrogant in the battle of Jiazhou? In the end, they threw away their helmets and armor and ran faster than rabbits." You don’t even think about it, if you can still fight, why did the Beishan people give their three counties to our Xiguan Army to garrison? And they also sent us so much food... The Beishan Army is vulnerable, and I think the Tianshan Army is also It’s not going to be much better. Last time we only used half of our troops to beat the Beishan people into a mess, this time we will use all the main force in Xiguan, and we will definitely beat the Tianshan people to the ground.”

Tian Xiaowei sighed: "It's not that easy. Last time, the governor set up a scheme, which made the people of Beishan defeat. This time, it was against the people of Tianshan. That's very different. And don't you know, This time, it’s not just the Tianshan people who invaded our Xiguan, but also the Northwest Army...!"

"Lieutenant, since the governor can plan to defeat the Beishan people, he can also design to defeat the Tianshan people." A young soldier was full of confidence, "If you don't believe me, let's wait and see, this time our Xiguan army will definitely return in triumph. If you don't accept it, let's make a bet now...!"

"Everyone hopes that we can win, but it is really not easy to win...!" A veteran soldier sighed, and was about to continue talking, but he heard a soldier guarding the battlements shout: " Captain, it’s not good, come and see!”

These soldiers reacted quickly, got up quickly, and ran to the edge of the battlements, only to see the bright fire outside, which was coming from the tents.

"what happened?"

"It seems...it seems to be on fire!" The soldier said, "Suddenly the fire started...!"

"These dandies...!" The old soldier frowned and said, "I must have never slept outside...!"

Amidst the sound of the wind, I heard a loud shout from over there: "Come on, help me, people are burned to death, people are burned to death...!"

The sound was very miserable, and the fire took advantage of the wind, and several tents were already ablaze.

"You, you, and the rest of you, come with me." Tian Xiaowei said solemnly, "Let's go out and have a look, but don't you really burn people to death under our noses!"

"Lieutenant Tian, ​​there is an order from above that the city gate must not be opened before the hour. There are still several hours before the time to open the city gate...!" The veteran urged hastily.

Captain Tian frowned and said, "I know, but are we going to just watch them burn to death...these are all officials and businessmen from Jinling, if they were really burned to death under our noses, we'd rather not save them, and turn around." If the higher-ups are to blame, the guilt will be greater. Don't worry, let's go and have a look, as long as there is no dead person, we will be back right away, you don't have to worry, if the higher-ups really want to blame, Wo Tiankun will bear all the responsibilities." No more hesitation ,"Come with me!"

After all, Tian Kun is the captain of the city gate, at least in the three-acre area of ​​the south gate, he is the highest officer, and the soldiers naturally dare not disobey, seven or eight soldiers followed Tian Xiaowei down the top of the city, and ordered the people under the city to The soldiers opened the city gate. There is a special city gate beside the gate, but it is a solid stone house. It is the office of the captain of the city gate on weekdays. In winter, the soldiers can also escape the cold in this stone house. , Hearing Tian Kun's order, although the soldiers who came out of the stone house wondered why they would open the city gate at such a time, they did not dare to disobey their orders and opened the city gate.

The city gate opened little by little, and Tian Kun then ordered: "Let's go out for a while, don't close the city gate, and come back immediately." Several people got on their horses, shook the reins, and galloped out.

Luo Dingxi was already prepared at this moment. Seeing the fire on Cixiu's side, he was ready. Thousands of cavalry quietly approached the city gate. Luo Dingxi knew that if he wanted to enter the city first, he must first seize the city gate. These thousands of cavalry rushed over suddenly. Although the horses were extremely fast, once they alarmed the defenders at the top of the city, they would definitely close the city gate immediately. The brave warriors rode on the fastest war horses. After the flames lit up, they immediately detoured, and personally led dozens of horses to approach the city gate. While attracting, it is just right to take advantage of this opportunity to kill the south gate first. As long as the gate is not closed, the main force of the cavalry can rush over in a blink of an eye and enter the city quickly.

Tian Xiaowei led people to gallop over to Cixiu, but Luo Dingxi galloped towards the city gate from another direction. He clenched his teeth, looked stern, and had a cold look in his eyes. He was getting closer and closer to the city gate, and he was already clenched. The saber in his hand.

The soldiers on the edge of the city gate were attracted by Cixiu. When they heard a strange movement, they turned their heads and saw dozens of Beishan cavalry roaring like ghosts in the dark night. But at the end, the first general was tall and strong, and he shouted loudly: "Surrender, don't kill!" He had already rushed to the edge of the city gate, and swung a knife at a soldier beside the city gate. go down.