Late Tang

(Thanks to liujunliu, Happiness Blooms Like a Flower, Yongle Riverside, and Hai Xiaofeng for their support, thank you everyone. The fourth update will be delivered. The conference call was cut off this afternoon. Today I can only update four chapters. Please praise and play reward!)

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At dusk and dusk, the sky was full of red clouds, like fire, passing across the dim sky, reflecting half of the sky red.A flock of black crows hovered in the sky, croaking desolately, their blood-red eyes staring at the city that was about to collapse.

The crows sensed an aura of terror permeating the sky above the city below, and were waiting for the feast of the crows that was about to begin.

Plastic state, Shenwuchuan.

Shatuo people have been attached to the settlement after the Tang Dynasty for decades. At this time, under the city gate, crowds fleeing in a hurry crowded each other, everyone with a look of horror and despairing silence, gathered like a black ant formation, along the In the dim twilight over the vast wilderness.Even with families and family members, dragging children and daughters, with endless uneasiness and fear on their faces, no one dared to pant loudly, as if the louder voice would attract countless strong Qin cavalry to trample and massacre.

A catastrophe is approaching, and human life is worthless.

"Who said that the people in troubled times are the most miserable? At least they still have a chance to escape. Hmph, according to someone, these people really don't know how many times better than us Qiuba." The guarding soldiers fleeing the crowd sarcastically pouted at their companions beside him.

Behind his restless back, the three characters "Shenwuchuan" are engraved in the middle above the gate of the tower, simple and unsophisticated.

Another soldier leaned over and leaned over and whispered: "Have you heard? It is said that this time Qin Wang Li Jing sent Zhang Zimian, the court's Zuo Weiwei general, known as the court's famous general. He once begged Cui Anqian for a confession. Huang Chao Wang Xianzhi, in the southeast, personally beheaded Wang Xianzhi's head, and beheaded more than [-] grass thieves in a row. He is majestic and extremely vicious. Now he has defected to Li Jing and has become the Marshal of Zhengxi. He is in a hurry to get our The human head is used as a qualification for promotion, and his official robes are stained red with our blood. If our Shenwu River falls into his hands, it will be very unfortunate."

The soldier earlier sighed: "Hey, no matter who comes from Qin Fan, we will accept it. Li Jing came to Daibei twice, which one of them didn't make him scratch three feet, like a wild goose plucking his hair, not to mention the army. , even ordinary people, he will take them away, even cattle and sheep. Our king fought Li Jing twice, once almost wiped out the whole army, and fled to Mobei. This second time, it was even more The whole army was almost wiped out, and he hid for more than half a year before showing up. Now Li Siyuan has turned against him and led the Qin army into Jin, alas, we are the ones who are unlucky."

The latter soldier was startled and said: "Really? Didn't it mean that Your Majesty invited [-] Khitan cavalry to go south to help clean up the house? Didn't Li Siyuan escape all the way to Yunzhou just now?"

"Li Siyuan didn't run away, but withdrew. I heard from Ma Dashao yesterday that when he delivered wine to Xiaowei Wang, I heard that Li Siyuan was afraid that his subordinates would turn against him again, so he decided to discuss it with Qin Jun. He Take the troops to Yunzhou to help defend against the Hu people, and hand over Shuozhou to the Qin army to deal with King Jin's people."

"Then what are we still doing here?"

"Of course we must guard." A burly man with the appearance of an officer came over suddenly, staring at the two Shatuo soldiers with a frosty face, and said solemnly word by word: "Li Sizhao and Li Siyuan betrayed King Jin, but we have always been loyal to King Jin." Your Majesty's. Now that Li Siyuan is colluding with the Qin army, he has fled to Yunzhou, but we just want to occupy this Shenwu River and hold it, waiting for the troops of Your Majesty Hou to fight over."

Shenwuchuan is in the south of Shuozhou in the north of Daizhou, and Yanmen Pass is in the south.

Li Siyuan was besieged by his subordinates mutiny at Yanmen Pass, leaving Xindai Erzhou behind and retreated here.After discussing with the Qin Army, Li Keyong continued to retreat northward to Yunzhou, where he and a part of the Qin Army fought against the Hu people going south.Zhang Zimian went south to Shuozhou in person, preparing to wipe out the mutinous Shatuo soldiers and horses.

The land of Daibei is now in chaos, and there are wandering soldiers everywhere. A group of soldiers who mutinied from Shuozhou originally planned to go south to Yanmen, but after passing by here, the captain above planned to stay here and occupy Shenwuchuan to wait for Yanmen. When the gate soldiers go north, it will be regarded as a great contribution.

The school lieutenant was loyal to Li Keyong, and he couldn't help feeling a bit lucky, thinking that the Qin army didn't come over so soon, and this place was very close to Yanmen Pass, so it was a good opportunity for a blog.

The Shatuo soldiers at the gate of the city were silent with each other, secretly cursing their superiors for not wanting to die.

At this moment, there was a commotion faintly by the pushing city gate.

A carriage burning with raging flames suddenly rumbled forward and crashed into the panicked crowd.The horse harnessed to the cart kept screaming and rushed towards the city gate along the road.The crowd retreated to both sides like a tide, and just as the carriage was about to pass through the narrow city gate, the burning carriage suddenly exploded violently, the sound was loud, the flames blazed everywhere, and countless pieces of broken wood and rubble were splashed and injured. A piece of refugees who had no time to escape.

The eyes of everyone at the city gate were attracted by this sudden incident.

Suddenly, a figure jumped up to the city gate tower like lightning, held up the crossbow neatly and pulled the trigger again and again, shooting and killing nine soldiers in one fell swoop.Then, when General Shatuo, who was under the banner above the city gate, reacted, he had already pulled out an extremely sharp fast sword on his back.

The sword energy is as frosty and as fast as lightning.

"Stop him!" A trace of fear flashed in the general's eyes, and he, who had experienced many battles, could tell that this was a master of swordsmanship, his moves were as fast as lightning, and his moves were deadly.

Several soldiers charged forward with shouts and raised their guns. The swordsman rushed forward. The first sword cut the throat of the soldier who rushed forward, the second sword cut off a soldier's leg, and the third sword cut off the soldier's leg. The long sword pierced directly into the soldier's chest.

The soldier held the blade tightly with both hands, as if he wanted to prevent the long sword from piercing in, but the tip of the sword had already been exposed behind his back, and it was still dripping with blood.

The assassin didn't draw the sword again, but reached down with both hands, and took out two seven-hole dogleg knives from her thighs. The black blades were completely non-reflective, but holding them in the hands of the assassin made her even more powerful.

She held two knives behind her hands, her steps were quick, and she passed by like a butterfly passing through flowers all the way. After she flashed past, only corpses and half-dead soldiers with missing arms and legs were left behind.

"who are you!"

Seeing that he was doomed, General Sha Tuo roared and asked the last sentence.

The female assassin leaped into the air, like a tiger pouncing on her prey, and the two knives in her hands entered the chest cavity from General Shatuo's neck.

Blood splattered, and General Shatuo's eyes gradually became lax.

"Anyone who dares to take the might of the King of Qin will be killed even if he is far away, and he will be killed even if he is strong!"

General Shatuo sprayed blood from his mouth, and tried his best to stare at the female assassin, "Who are you!"

"When you arrive in the underworld, meet the King of Hades and tell him that you died under Murong Xue's knife!" After saying this, Murong Xue drew back her swords, jumped into the air, and jumped from the four-foot-high tower of Shenwu River. He jumped down, and when he was about to land, he suddenly threw out a flying rope, grabbed the battlement behind him, landed safely and smoothly, and then disappeared.

The Shatuo soldiers at the city gate hadn't recovered from the shock at this time. They couldn't believe that someone broke into the city guarded by 3000 people in broad daylight, jumped up the gate tower, and instantly In the meantime, more than 20 soldiers were killed, and the chief general of [-] soldiers and horses was beheaded on the upper floor of the city gate, and then he left in a hurry.

Their eyes were still fixed on the city gate tower. Under the confused twilight, a bloody atmosphere scattered on the Shenwu River, and the rolled Shatuo flag suddenly fell like fallen leaves blown by the autumn wind.

The soldiers looked at each other in blank dismay: "The main general is dead, what should we do now?"

Do you want to go after the assassin?Several school captains were still in shock, their eyes reflected the thick sky, looking at the vast wilderness, they were silent.

Several Sha Tuo captains hadn't recovered from their panic when suddenly there was a lot of smoke and dust in front of them, and the sound of hooves was like thunder.

The expressions of the Shatuo captains changed drastically, "No, I didn't expect the Qin army to come so fast!" Before the words fell, I saw the fleeing Shatuo people helping the old and the young, like a colony of ants washed away by a flood in an instant It was scattered.Where the forward iron cavalry of the Qin army rushed past, there were endless wailing and crying for help, and many old people from Shatuo who were too late to dodge died tragically under the hooves of the galloping horses.

A Shatuo boy at the gate of the city exclaimed: "Didn't it be said that the Qin army is the most benevolent, the king's benevolent and righteous teacher, and never hurt the people?"

The Shatuo captain who reprimanded them earlier said with a dark face: "No matter how kind the Qin army is, it is only for the Tang people. But we Shatuo people are just aliens in their eyes, not human at all. Boy, see clearly , the Shatuo people can only believe in themselves, and only the sword in their hands can protect our people from slaughter."

On the city, Shatuo soldiers beat the alarm bell desperately.

The clang of the alarm bell sounded rapidly and long, like the wailing of a wounded wolf before it died.

I saw nearly a thousand cavalrymen of the Qin army approaching, each of them like wolves and tigers, with red helmets and red armor, spears like forests, sabers stuffed with snow, and they were like rushing thunder. Fan cavalry.More than a thousand cavalry rushed forward, except for the sound of the horses' iron hooves trampling the ground, there was no trace of breath, and the discipline was so strict that it was amazing.

At the front of this team, a big flag is fluttering in the wind, and the letter is flying, and the general flag is written behind, and the word Yang is written.

The lieutenant Sha Tuo who was directing the people to evacuate changed his face drastically, and said in shock: "Flying cavalry, here comes the flying cavalry, the flying cavalry of Yang Shihou and Yang Tianxiong!" war.That time, they first easily captured Junduguan from Li Kuangwei.But within a day, it was Yang Shihou and Fu Shen who took advantage of people and sheep to raid and take away Junduguan.Li Siyuan led them to desperate bloody battle, wanting to hold out until Liu's reinforcements arrived the next day.But in the end, under the attack of the Flying Cavalry Army and the Brigade Cavalry Army, they only guarded for half a night before they were defeated and fled.

Now seeing the banners of the Flying Cavalry Army and Yang Shihou again, Shatuo Dahan said bitterly, knowing that they would never be able to defend Shenwuchuan.They only had [-] soldiers and horses, and at this time the general had just been assassinated in public, and the morale of the army was weak. The forward of the Qin army had already arrived, and it was Li Jing's disciple general like Yang Shihou who came.

You can tell just by looking at the march of this vanguard. No wonder the Qin Fan army has been invincible in recent years. Just looking at the well-trained cavalry in front of you, they are no weaker than the Shatuo Army, which was known as the strongest cavalry in the world back then.Seeing that the Qin soldiers are getting closer and closer, and it seems that the large troops behind are also coming in a steady stream, I am afraid that after a while, the follow-up army will kill them, and their 3000 people will not even be able to fight a wave. Submerged under the iron hooves of the Qin army.

Several other school lieutenants were still yelling orders, directing their soldiers to close the door and prepare to defend against the city, waiting for reinforcements.The strong man shook his head, let out a long sigh, and finally said to the Shatuo boy, "Boy, if you don't want to die here immediately, follow me!" After finishing speaking, he got on his horse without looking back, and circled the city to the south and go.

The two galloped on horseback for more than an hour, the dusk was getting darker, and after running for another hour, they saw a small dilapidated temple under the moonlight, as silent as nothing.

The strong man stopped his horse, jumped off and said, "Just rest here for a while, and then we will go to Yanmen."

The young man was a little worried: "Qin Jun is right behind, let's stop now, what if they catch up?"

"I see you are very smart, why do you ask such a stupid question? The more you have to hurry, the more you have to control your speed. If you just run wildly, you will run fast at first, but after a while, the horse will be useless. If you Control the speed and run, and then take a proper rest and feed the horse, and you will be able to run farther."

The strong man asked the young man to draw water and drink the horse, while he went out with a bow.After a while, the boy came back with two big bags of water after drinking the two horses, and the strong man also came back with two fat rabbits.The two were about to start a fire, but they suddenly heard the sound of hooves and voices outside the temple, they couldn't help being startled, and hurriedly hid aside.

I only heard a lot of people coming over noisy, one of them said: "Damn, I ran for two hours at a stretch, I almost lost my breath, come here to catch my breath."

Hearing that they were all speaking with a Shatuo accent, and their voices were very familiar, the strong man felt hesitant. The temple gate had already been kicked open, and a group of people rushed in in a panic.The young man peeped over, but he saw that the people who came were all dressed in black from Shatuo soldiers, and most of them were covered with blood, he was very embarrassed.The leader had thick eyebrows, big eyes, a beard, and a rough appearance. When the young man saw him, he was overjoyed and immediately jumped out from behind.

Seeing the silence of the small temple, the group thought that there was no one there, but when they suddenly saw a person jumping out, they couldn't help panicking, retreated quickly with a crash, and at the same time they used all kinds of weapons to defend.

"Brother Mi, it's me." The man at the head saw the boy's face clearly by the moonlight, and he was also very pleasantly surprised, and shouted: "Brother Kang, you are still alive, Lao Mi, I thought you had already been cut off by the Qin people Go ask for credit."

That young man was a soldier in Shatuo's army. His family was originally a Sogdian businessman who had lived in the north for generations. The last time Li Siyuan conscripted him, he was conscripted into the army at the age of fifteen.But this time their captain turned against Li Siyuan, so he had no choice but to follow him all the way south.That big man was the capital of their capital. He was usually young, literate and able to write, so he took great care of him.

A young man surnamed Sog Tekang stepped forward and asked, "Mi Dutou, why are you here?"

Mi Du nodded, and said dejectedly: "Shenwuchuan has fallen, we escaped all the way."

Kang Ping'an was shocked when he heard the words. From the appearance of the Qin army to this time, it took only two hours, and three thousand Shatuo soldiers guarded Shenwuchuan City, and they were defeated?

"How can it be so fast?"

Mi Dutou sighed and said: "The Qin army only fired a round of arrows, and threw a few more mines, and the bastard immediately opened the west city to lead the Qin army into the city. Once the west city gate was opened, the Shenwu River also fell. gone.'

This is the big man who also came out from behind, and said in a deep voice: "Bacheng is the Qin army's spy who sneaked into Shenwuchuan long ago, and opened the west city gate during the chaos. We Shatuo don't have so many soft bones. Other people Woolen cloth?"

Mi Dutou recognized this big man as one of the captains among the 3000 people, and he was a little surprised, but he still said bitterly: "The 3000 people are probably dead. Once the city is broken, they can only be trampled by the iron hooves of the Qin army." Yes. The few of us escaped by seeing the opportunity quickly."

Everyone in the temple was sad for a while, and 3000 people disappeared in a blink of an eye.Next, can they stop Qin Jun's iron hooves?Datong has been lost, can Yanmen survive?For a moment, everyone lacked any confidence in their hearts, and sighed and breathed. (To be continued.)