Tibet

After coming from Lingshan, Li Chenghua led the team to travel westward through the mountains. The thick snow covered the area, which was difficult for war horses to walk, but it was a piece of cake for long-legged camels. The camels walked steadily through the mountains.

That morning, the team entered the Rehai Gorge. If they walked another 60 miles, they would see Rehai.

At this moment, there were faint shouts and killing sounds coming from the front. Li Chenghua immediately realized that something was wrong and shouted, "There is an enemy, prepare bows and crossbows for battle!"

The soldiers took their weapons and jumped off the camels, leaning against the stone walls on both sides of the gorge, or squatting behind the big rocks. Dozens of hired camel drivers hurriedly led the camels back.

Soon, five or six camels came running in front. The soldiers on the camels were actually Tang soldiers. Zhan Yannian, the General of the Internal Guards, shouted, "Whose army is this?"

The soldiers on the camels were Yuchi Xian and his men. They were careful all the way, but still encountered the enemy patrol team. The two sides fought fiercely. The Tang army was outnumbered and many people were killed.

Yuchi Xian led the remaining seven soldiers to fight and flee, and the hundreds of enemy patrols behind them chased them relentlessly.

Yuchi Xian heard shouts from the front, but found that there were countless soldiers dozens of steps ahead. His heart sank and he fell into despair. His men shouted excitedly: "Captain, it's the Tang army, it's our army!"

Yuchi Xian also saw the other side's armor clearly, and was extremely ecstatic. He shouted: "We are the Tang army in Suiye, and the enemy is chasing us from behind!"

Li Chenghua was a little worried and asked again: "What is your name and what position do you hold?"

"I am the scout captain Yuchi Xian, and my father Yuchi Guang is the governor of Beiting."

Li Chenghua knew the children of high-ranking officials very well. She knew that Yuchi Guang's son was indeed in Suiye.

"You retreat quickly, let us deal with the enemy!"

Yuchi Xian ran over with his men, and soon, a black mass of pursuers appeared behind them, all riding camels.

Zhan Yannian shouted, "Shoot!"

Three hundred crossbows fired at the enemy at once, and dense crossbow arrows shot at the enemy. The camel cavalrymen who were chasing were caught off guard and were shot down one after another. There was a scream. The camel cavalrymen behind thought they were ambushed, and they were scared and turned around and fled.

The Tang army chased and killed more than 30 people along the way. In the end, only more than ten people escaped back to Suiye City.

Yuchi Xi'an already knew the identity of the other party. He stepped forward and bowed and said: "Your humble servant Yuchi Xi'an greets General Li!"

Li Chenghua nodded and smiled: "I know your father. A tiger father will have a dog son. Why did General Yuchi appear in Suiye at this time?"

Li Chenghua was a little surprised. Suiye was lost more than two months ago. Why are there still Tang soldiers now?

Yuchi Xian hurriedly said: "I came from Yibo City, and was ordered by General Guo to go to Anxi for help!"

Li Chenghua was overjoyed and asked anxiously: "Is your general still alive?"

"He is still alive. A total of 900 of us broke through successfully. General Guo led 600 people to retreat to Yibo City. Together with the original garrison, there are now about 700 people in total."

Li Chenghua nodded, "You went to Anxi for help because you don't have enough food?"

"That's right! Even if we kill horses, we can only support it for a month at most, so within a month, we must invite reinforcements back."

Li Chenghua smiled slightly and said: "We have more than 1,300 camels, Enough to take you back to Anxi!"

At this moment, a soldier came running and said to Yuchi Xi'an nervously: "Captain, A Tie is missing, and there are traces of blood on the ground!"

Yuchi Xi'an's face changed immediately, "Not good!"

He hurriedly explained to Li Chenghua: "One of our brothers was injured and fainted. We couldn't take him away, so we hid him behind a big rock. He must have been captured by the enemy."

Li Chenghua's face also changed slightly. She knew that once the enemy got the intelligence of the Tang army, they would probably lead the army to attack Yibo City. As long as the enemy had enough camels, this amount of snow would not affect the military operation.

"Pass my order, set off immediately!"

Three hundred internal guards led more than a thousand camels and began to move north rapidly. This time, Yuchi Xi'an was the guide. When they arrived near Suiye, night had fallen. He was very familiar with the terrain and bypassed several enemy checkpoints. He entered the Suiye River Valley and headed northwest.

Seeing that Yuchi Xi'an had been staring at the front nervously, fearing that the enemy troops had already gone, Li Chenghua smiled slightly and said, "Don't worry, Captain Yuchi. We were not intercepted by the enemy army halfway, which means that their commander did not know about this matter yet, so they could not be in the front, but should be in the back!"

"Ah! That's it."

Yuchi Xi'an calmed down a little, and he no longer cared about the enemy army, and led the Tang army's inner guards to Yibo City quickly.

Guo Xin and the generals never dreamed that the rescue team they sent out would come back in just ten days, and brought back a large camel team, and it turned out to be the inner guards.

While everyone was happy, they were also a little nervous. After all, they lost Suiye City. Are the inner guards here to hold them accountable?

Guo Xin's official rank was only the fourth-rank Yiwei General, and his military rank was the Tiger Guard Lieutenant General, while Li Chenghua was the third-rank Champion General, the general commander, and his official position and qualifications were far higher than Guo Xin.

Although she is a woman, she is a well-known female devil in Chang'an. No one is not afraid of her. She is also very famous in the army. She is a legendary female general. After all, Li Chenghua is the first female general.

Li Chenghua could see that the generals on the other side were very nervous. She said calmly: "I am not here to hold you accountable when ordered by the emperor. In fact, the emperor has no intention of holding you accountable. The responsibility does not lie with you, but the emperor needs to know that this time Who is the enemy behind the fall of Broken Leaf? To understand the current situation in the river? To lay the foundation for next year's war in the river, I was ordered to understand these situations."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and Guo Xin asked the generals to disperse. He asked Sima Zheng Ju to stay and discuss the next arrangements with Li Chenghua.

"Excuse me, Governor Guo. I had more than a hundred men escorting thirty-four members of the Saints' Society. They later sent me an eagle letter, saying that thirty-four members of the Saints' Society died mysteriously. Then Suiye was attacked by surprise, and then they There is no news anymore. I want to know where my men are now? Are they all dead? Does Governor Guo know anything about the death of the thirty-four members of the Saints?"

Guo Xin said slowly: "Li Dutong doesn't need to worry too much. The enemy's sneak attack on Suiye was discovered first by the inner guards. They were the first to evacuate. I heard they went to Gongyue City in the Yili Valley."

Li Chenghua was overjoyed and asked: "Are there any casualties?"

"There will definitely be some casualties, but most of them should be evacuated."

"How much does Governor Guo know about the mysterious deaths of members of the Saint Sisters?"

Guo Xin smiled and said: "Let Zheng Sima answer Qin! He is responsible for investigating this case."

Zheng Ju was short and fat, but very shrewd. He leaned slightly and said: "Reporting to Li Dutong, more than thirty members of the Holy Women's Society were poisoned to death in the post house. Someone poisoned their food, and it was He was highly poisoned and soon bled to death from his orifices. According to the low-level investigation, the biggest suspect should be a servant doing chores in the post house, named Suba. He was a Geluolu man and only fourteen years old. He disappeared afterwards. Some people said that he had been doing odd jobs in the kitchen that afternoon. We searched his room and found that everything in his room was gone. Obviously, he had started to clean up and move it beforehand, which means he was the poisoner. "

"Then what? Is there any news about Suba?"

Zheng Ju smiled bitterly and said: "We have discovered the whereabouts of this Suba. We sent people to catch him. As a result, the soldiers sent to catch him were attacked and five people died. Then the city gate fell and Suiye City was in chaos. Therefore, I base my judgment on the fact that the lurking insider poisoned the members of the Saint Sisters."

Li Chenghua pondered for a moment and said: "There are two questions here. One question is, since it was the Saintess Society's army that attacked Suiye City, why did their agents poison the members of the Saintess Society? The second question is, Where are the 20,000 troops of the Holy Maidens? Did they attack suddenly, or have they been lying in wait for a long time? "

Guo Xin and Zheng Ju looked at each other, and Guo Xin sighed and said, "Old Zheng, you better keep talking!"

Zheng Ju smiled bitterly and said, "Li Dutong actually asked three questions. The first question is why the Saints' Society wants to kill the Saints' Society. We don't know. The second question is, where are the 20,000 troops of the Saints' Society ambushed? We don’t know either? We have half an answer to the third question, that is, the other party’s spy came at least a month ago, but whether the Holy Maiden’s army has been lying in wait for a long time or came suddenly, we don’t have an answer.”

Li Chenghua nodded. Although most of the other party didn't know, they answered a key question, that is, Nei Ying entered Broken Leaf City a month ago. This information was very important, indicating that the Saint's army did not obey the Saint. Will conduct.

This is because it takes at least three or four months from war planning to the departure of the internal troops, the internal troops sneaking in and waiting, and the final sneak attack on the city. Three months ago, the Holy Daughters Society spread its missionary work quickly in the Tang Dynasty, and it was impossible for the Holy Daughters Society to commit suicide. Lift.

"Are you sure he infiltrated a month ago?" Li Chenghua asked again to confirm.

Zheng Zhi nodded, "There should be about five hundred merchants participating in the meeting. These merchants came more than a month before the city was broken. They said they were here to purchase pig iron and grain. I also negotiated with them. Pig iron is a prohibited item and is not allowed to the outside world. For sale, one of our men recognized that the agent who opened the city gate was this group of merchants purchasing food. "

At this time, a soldier suddenly rushed over and said: "Report to the Commander-in-Chief, an enemy brigade was discovered twenty miles away!"