Will Ming

Chapter 450: Twenty Counties

At the end of February, there was another heavy snowfall in the north, and it fell for a day and a night. The whole north was covered with a thick layer of pure white quilts. There is no doubt that when the spring is warm, the ice and snow will melt and the ground will The wheat in the garden will drink a lot of melted water. With the first water in spring, the wheat will grow like crazy when the sun is warmer.If there are two more heavy rains before this summer, then a bumper summer grain harvest is already a certainty.

Although the Sui Dynasty seems to be in chaos now, what is in chaos is the overall situation. The places where various rebels or clans ruled are all stable and peaceful.The common people have fields and clothes to wear. The number of people who freeze to death in this cold winter has more than doubled compared to previous years. There are far fewer hungry and dead bones in the gutters on both sides of the official road. They are all hidden, and the snow scenery on both sides of the official road is dazzling.

The sound of horseshoes in the distance shattered the tranquility, and also shattered the snow falling on the official road, which was as smooth as a mirror.While the horseshoes were flying, the broken snow was thrown high and far behind.This is a team of twenty or so knights. The horses they sit on are very handsome, but they are not wearing armor. It looks like a man from a wealthy family is traveling with his servants to see the snow, just to see what they are doing. There is no way that the color is in a hurry to appreciate the snow.Looking at each of these people's riding skills is very superb, the body seems to be firmly on the saddle while the horse is galloping, from this point it can be seen that these people are by no means ordinary people.

The leader was a man in his thirties, with a long beard and a hundred faces, he didn't look like a martial artist, but in fact he was the weakest in this group of people.Only his face had the most painful expression, obviously he was extremely unsuited to such a long-distance travel.The hand holding the rein tightly was a little blue from the cold, and the fact that his knuckles were not thick meant that he didn't practice martial arts often.His frowning eyebrows revealed the anxiety in his heart, and there was a trace of worry and fear deliberately hidden in his eyes.

"My lord, don't be too impatient."

A rough man who followed closely behind him persuaded: "It's snowing heavily, and the whole map is flat. If there is an ambush, we can tell at a glance that we have already entered the pass, and we can enter the city fifty miles ahead."

"You can't be careless!"

The literati-like leader licked his skinned buttocks while galloping his horse, but he couldn't feel any pain.After rushing continuously, my buttocks were bumpy and numb, and even the pain sensation became very vague.

"We are the fourth group of people sent by Mr. Tang. There is no news about the first three groups. No one is alive, no one is dead, and the investigation along the way only shows that they have left the customs successively and then disappeared out of thin air. We finally left the customs to investigate For such an important matter, if you don’t hurry back, you may delay Duke Tang’s important event! Thinking about it, Duke Tang’s army is about to leave Taiyuan at this time, and if we don’t rush back, Duke Tang might be fooled by thieves! This time Although we failed to meet Ashina Doduo at the Turkic court, we did find out the details of Ashina Duoduo, which will be of great use to Duke Tang!"

He was talking while riding a horse, and the wind poured into his mouth, making his lisp a little slurred.

This person was Li Zhengshen, a staff member of Duke Tang's sect. He was ordered by Li Yuan to go to the Turkic royal court in northern Serbia to contact Shibi Khan Ashina Duji, but he was ambushed shortly after leaving the customs, and six or 70 people with him were killed. There are only about twenty or so left.Those who ambushed and killed them seemed to be grassland people, but they didn't know which tribe they were.

When Deus was hiding in a small grassland tribe, they accidentally found out a great secret.It turns out that the Turkic tribe in the eastern part of the grassland was not sent by the Turkic Khan, but a rebel army!Duke Tang has already sent someone there to contact Gesang Meiduo, the holy maiden of the grassland. If the contact is successful, if the Turkic Khan finds out, Ashina Duojishi will be angered immediately!Tang Gong failed to contact the Turkic people, and instead provoked the Turkic people's revenge, which was tantamount to a disaster for Taiyuan.

Once the rear is unstable, how can Mr. Tang go south with peace of mind?

So Li Zhengshen didn't dare to delay, he simply didn't take the risk of going to the Turkic royal court, turned around and returned to the pass, and rushed to Taiyuan day and night.

"I remember!"

The guard suddenly thought of something and said loudly: "My lord, I know that we were besieged when we left the customs. Which tribe did those grassland people belong to? In the early years, my subordinate used to be a merchant to sell tea in Saibei, and only made one trip. So I don't remember the words of those grassland people very clearly. Just now I suddenly remembered that those people's words sounded like the Khitan people living in the south of the Xilamulun River!"

"Khitan people?"

Li Zhengshen was startled for a moment, and then his heart suddenly brightened.

"That tribe of saintesses is next to the Khitan people!"

He felt that he had discovered a great secret. Someone deliberately dug a big hole for Mr. Tang to jump into!Those Khitan people intercepted and killed the envoy sent by Tang Gong to the Turkic court, just to get Tang Gong to turn around and contact Gesang Meiduo.And although that Gesang Meiduo is the daughter of Ashina Tujishi, the saint of the prairie, but she is the one who betrayed the Turkic court. Once he ally with her, Ashina Tujishi will be furious!

This is a trap!

When Li Zhengshen thought of this, he suddenly felt chills all over his body, and an uncontrollable uneasiness and fear spread in his heart. He couldn't help but hit the horse hard a few more times, trying to make the horse run faster.This uneasiness came from his speculation. He suddenly thought, if the person who set up the trap can reach out to the grassland, how powerful will he be?

Thinking of this, Li Zhengshen's heart beat uncontrollably.

Someone is going to overthrow the Li family!

In the end, Li Zhengshen guessed this, how could he still feel the fatigue and pain in his body, how could he still feel the knife-like cold wind in the first month, the coldness in his heart was ten thousand times stronger than the coldness of the weather.

"Marshall never stops!"

Li Zhengshen shouted loudly: "Hurry back to Taiyuan as soon as possible!"

Just after he finished shouting this sentence, at least fifty or sixty warriors wearing white cloaks suddenly appeared from the ditch on both sides of the official road. These people were all white clothes, white cloaks, and snow-white felt hats , lying motionless in the ditch, you can't tell it at all!

As soon as these people appeared, they immediately pulled the mechanism of the crossbow in their hands.

The continuous crossbows poured down like a torrential rain, and in a short while, most of the people in Tang Gong's mansion fell down!Immediately after the tripping rope buried in the snow on the official road was pulled up, six or seven guards of Duke Tang's mansion who had no time to rein in their horses fell down. Quite a lot.

The crossbows of those white-clothed men kept pulling, and in just a few minutes, all the twenty-odd guards of Duke Tang's mansion were shot down in anger, and the wounded and surviving men were hacked to death one by one by those white-clothed warriors before they had time to stand up. .

The leading warrior in white came over and kicked Li Zhengshen who had been hit by an arrow and fell to the ground and was still moaning. He slowly pulled off the white scarf covering his face, revealing a slightly dark face.

"How can the people in Saibei be so hasty! They even missed someone and escaped back."

Without looking at Li Zhengshen's pleading eyes, he stabbed Li Zhengshen's neck with a knife.With a twist of the horizontal knife, Li Zhengshen's throat and main artery were severed.The hot blood from the artery splashed on the snow, and soon melted into a puddle of blood.

At this moment, a group of 60 to [-] knights on the official road chased them up. The leading knight jumped off his horse and ran in front of the dark-faced leader. After a military salute, he apologized: "General Luo, we didn't expect Li Yuan to be so cautious." , I actually sent four groups of people out of the customs in a row, so I was a little careless, but fortunately you are here."

"Don't explain to me."

The young man known as General Luo waved his hands and said, "You should know that your lord is planning a big deal. If your negligence ruins his layout, it's useless to explain."

After finishing speaking, he turned his head and looked to the south with admiration in his eyes.

Anzhi...you played a big game of chess.

……

……

At the beginning of March in the 13th year of Daye, none of the people Li Yuan sent to contact the Turkic royal court in Saibei came back.The four groups of people before and after lost their news one after another as if they were covered by heavy snow in the north.This made Li Yuan's heart covered with a fog of uneasiness, which made him postpone the time for the army to go south.Although when he taught Li Shimin, he said that military orders are like mountains, and orders must be followed, but how can he send troops with peace of mind if there is no news from the north?

Therefore, the vanguards of Li Shimin and Liu Hongji were two hundred miles away, and his central army was still in Taiyuan. There was no other way but to send people to catch up with the vanguard and let Liu Hongji lead the troops to rest on the spot.

Li Yuan frowned deeply, thinking who was trying to make things difficult for him. It was no coincidence that four groups of people were wiped out.Chen Yinshou suspected that it was Liu Jizhen, the Yanshan horse thief, but he didn't think so. Liu Jizhen was fierce and brutal, but this person mainly targeted the Turkic people rather than the Han people.Liu Jizhen is a descendant of the Huns, and has always wanted to return to the grassland to reproduce the glory of the Huns.So in recent years, most of Liu Jizhen's murders were Turks.

What he suspected was Luo Yi. He and Luo Yi had a conflict last year. The two sent memorials to Jiangdu to impeach each other. He won't forget what happened last time so quickly.

But how did Luo Yi know that he sent someone to contact the Turks?

Could it be that there are people from Luo Yi in the mansion?

Thinking of this, Li Yuan frowned even tighter.

Just as he was about to call Chen Yinshou, Pei Ji and others to discuss, he suddenly heard someone outside shouting excitedly: "Mr. Tang! You're back! You're back!"

Li Yuan was startled, and strode out of the study.

The two old enemies, Changsun Shunde and Chen Yinshou, unexpectedly came together, their expressions were very excited.

"Duke Tang, the person sent to Saibei to contact the Golden Wolf Saintess has returned!"

Chen Yinshou laughed and said.