Chapter 61 Desert War

"What's good about it?" Shuang'er wanted to cry without tears. She had just ignited a little hope, and it seemed to be extinguished little by little. "You are a righteous emperor, but what's so good about this dynasty? A few days ago, the emperor was sad because of the death of the imperial concubine. He was scolded by the empress dowager to ignore the government, so he ordered you to hand over the tiger charm. At that time, although the empress dowager was ill, she was still able to deal with the government. However, the empress dowager soon fell ill, so that no one dealt with the state affairs. The measures to be taken were not taken in time, and the decrees were not issued. Paper, this will lead to the victory of the King of Wu and our loss. If you don't quickly go to the court to tell the world to besiege and annihilate the rebels, let alone your throne, I'm afraid we won't even stay in the palace for a few days!"

"Sneer!" Zhuo Yuancan couldn't laugh or cry, "Do you think that if I run to the court to give orders, I can make the world listen to me and repel the rebels? Shuang'er, what you think is so simple! Except for a few old ministers left by their father, these ministers in the court are all the power cultivated by my uncle. The mother is still alive today. Do you think they listen to me or listen to their mother? Not to mention now, even when I was lingering in the past, even if I made a slight change to my mother's measures, they would have to look at my mother's eyes and nod and agree to this decree before it could be implemented, otherwise they would not even think about it! As for the army of the state and county, oh, to be honest, my father and Beirong fought several times in the past, so they established an unparalleled prestige in the army. I and my mother, no matter who holds the tiger charm, even if they are barely dispatching troops and generals, they will not fight bravely. The most important thing is that no matter whether they are civil servants and generals, I have none in their minds. If they have any prestige, how can they be willing to obey me?"

"What the emperor said, can't we do anything but wait for the empress dowager to solve the problem?" Shuang'er's voice was even sharper and harsher, "I think, if my young lady is still here, I will be extremely disappointed to see you like this, but she is very lucky. A glass of poisoned wine is relieved of everything. You don't have to watch the rebels getting closer and closer, and it is even likely to enter the palace, and the pieces will not be left!"

Zhuo Yuancan's face turned white and pale, "Can you? Don't talk about the lingling death? Luck? Thanks to what you said, that's right. Huanxuan once hoped that I would be committed to reforming the shortcomings of the government, but the government itself is unstable, and any restructuring is useless! Not only will it not have the effect it should have, but it will also shake the hearts of the people. At this point, my mother's conservative practices can't be wrong. In less than a year, the King of Wu launched a mutiny, and the unrest in various places is getting worse and worse, which itself shows that my throne is unclear!"

Shuang'er clenched her lips and held back a few tears. "In a word, the emperor can do nothing. What should we do?"

Zhuo Yuancan turned his back and said sadly, "Let's count the day after another day. I know that you have hatred for me and my mother, but for many things, I really can't help but do nothing..."

Hearing this, her body shook a few times, and silently retreated and turned away from Zhuo Yuancan. Although the fake dragon is a good way to take the throne, if the army of the court continues to be defeated, it is difficult to say whether the palace can be preserved or not. What's the point of what she has done?

A burst of dust and sand fascinated his eyes. Xu Chenglin's caravan stopped in the dust and raised their sleeves to cover and dodge one after another. Xu Chenglin rubbed his eyes and asked the deputy general behind him, "They should have been half a day. If the color will be dark today, we have to find a suitable one. It's okay to have a rest in the place."

The deputy general looked around and shook his head and said, "There seems to be no suitable place nearby. It's bald everywhere, and even the sand and dust can't be covered. Damn, at night, this broken place is particularly big, and the mouth is full of fine sand, ah!" The deputy said and spit on the ground.

Xu Chenglin glanced at it and pointed to the mouth and was soon sucked into the sand. He could only see a circle of wet saliva and said, "You see, their rut is still relatively clear. As I expected, let's keep up and see if we can find a suitable foothold before dark. Jiang Zhidao said that there were several mountain bags on the way. It should be It's not far away!"

The deputy general spit out his tongue. It turned out that what Xu Chenglin saw was not his saliva, but the rut traces hidden next to the saliva. Because of the thin sand just now, they did not notice that they had stepped on the rut traces of the caravan in front. The road to Yuzi was mostly in semi-arid and barren areas, during the daytime. The ruts are much easier to identify, but near the evening, with the rise of dust, the ruts will become more and more blurred and more difficult to identify. If you don't pay attention, you will lose clues. The reason why Xu Chenglin said that the ruts are still relatively clear is actually calculated according to the time. The two teams pass through the same place apart. It is said that this kind of rut is quite clear.

There is no time to expand the map. Xu Chenglin called everyone to work harder and try to settle down near the mountain bag and camp in the shade of the mountain bag, so that they can be less attacked by the sand, dust and cold wind.

After a long journey, he finally came to the mountain bag mentioned by Jiang Zhidao. The so-called mountain bag is actually not short, but they are like big steamed buns, which are not so steep. Xu Chenglin asked the rest of the generals to be responsible for choosing the site and camping, and he jumped off the horse, fell on the ground, and gently swept the floating dust.

"It should be all right. The general is too cautious. We didn't even see half a figure or half a horse's shadow all the way. How can there be any Beirong cavalry? Besides, we followed the ruts of the caravan in front of us. Except for what they passed by, there are no other traces!" The deputy general persuaded.

Xu Chenglin shook his head and said, "Why do I feel something wrong? Go and help me bring the feather fan in the car behind me and give me more fans along this way!"

Of course, the deputy general knew that Xu Chenglin asked him to help fan away the floating sand on those traces. Xu Chenglin was strong and burly, especially afraid of heat, so he brought a big feather fan and threw it on the camouflaged truck behind during the day. When he was resting, he often asked the deputy general to fan the cool wind for himself. Now it's good, but he was still suspicious. It is a cumbersome feather fan, which has been used for new use.

The deputy general rounded his arms and fanned fiercely. Xu Chenglin shouted, "You boy is looking for death. You are so hard. I'm full of fans!"

"General, you happen to be at the wind. How can you blame me?" The deputy general muttered, and the strength of his hand still slowed down a lot.

"Bah, ah, ah!" Xu Chenglin vomited several mouths of fine sand in a row, but he had always been meticulous in doing things, so after vomiting, he didn't have time to pat the sand on his face and body, and then lay on the ground to test it.

"No, there is really a problem!" Xu Chenglin suddenly roared and greeted the people behind him at the same time, "Put down the work in your hand first and set it up for me!"

"What's the matter, General?" The deputy general is inexplicable.

"Look at this half-moon shape!" Xu Chenglin pointed to a horseshoe mark and said, "Do you see any clues?"

The vice general stared for a while, "The two-and-a-half-moon shape overlapped, but it's not sure whether the back hooves are on the front hooves, or the horse behind them."

"Why don't you look at it carefully?" Xu Chenglin pointed to the hoof mark, "Our horses are all iron palms, so the size and lines of the hoof print are the same, and it is also brand new, and this, and this, this!" Xu Chenglin put out several abnormal hoof prints one by one. "Although the approximate shape is similar, the edge of the iron palm is worn and the small twill on the edge, which means that the iron palm has been used for a long time, and the lines are obviously not our horse!"

"It seems that there is an abnormal horseshoe mark, which seems to be just a horse. What does that mean?" The deputy general asked doubtfully.

"The explanation is a spy!" Xu Chenglin said, "He deliberately stepped on the hoof of our caravan for fear of being noticed, but if he was really a spy, Mr. Nie would be in trouble!"

"You mean they may attack the caravan tonight?"

Xu Chenglin nodded, "It's eighty-nine to ninety-nine possibilities, because a few days ago, we didn't find anything abnormality on the ruts of our caravan, which means that they haven't kept up with the caravans, or just wait and see from afar. But today, since the detectives have followed closely, it must be for the subsequent outpost for the subsequent brigade."

"Can we still catch up with General Manager Nie at this moment? It's going to be dark soon!" The deputy general asked worriedly.

"If we can't catch up, we have to catch up. Don't forget that our main task is to protect Nie in charge of them, let everyone pull out the weapons, separate the car from the horses, leave all the temporarily unwanted materials in place, leave ten people to guard the camp, and the rest of the people follow me!" Xu Chenglin said that he took the lead in pulling out a long gun in the car behind him and jumped on his horse. "Come with me, and the caravan in front will be in danger later!"

The environment of Nie Kong's landing site is better than that of Xu Chenglin. Although they are all camp sites proposed by Jiang Zhidao, because of the order of the itinerary and the conditions they can choose are limited, so there may always be caravans with better conditions and others are more difficult. This is a backwind sand nest forest, and the leaves of Hu Yang are beginning to turn golden. In camping in the forest, one is to prevent wind and sand, and the other is to deal with possible accidents, because it is easy to detect from the forest, but it is not easy for people outside to get a glimpse of the real situation in the forest.

However, the only inconvenience is that the carriage can't get into the forest and can only stop on the edge of the forest. Nie Kong doesn't hesitate to make all the cars get rid of the car. The horses are tied nearby to prevent anyone from stealing the carriage at night. The horse itself is a very alert animal. Once there is an abnormality, they will be restless in advance, so they will It is most appropriate for them to stay on the edge of the forest. However, the biggest problem with this approach is that in case of a fierce fight, the horse group is likely to be shocked and scattered, but Nie Kong can no longer take care of this much. He would rather be trapped in the woods than keep the military pay.

The first pot buried stewed the first bowl of steaming broth. The broth was sent to Nie Kong's hand. Nie Kong sniffed the meat and sighed, "Since he went on the road, this bowl of hot soup every night has become the biggest driving force for me to rush on the road. Come on. You all have worked hard. Let's eat together.

The fragrance of meat floated far away with the wind. Mai Zig, who was hidden in a pile of bushes, also sniffed hard, but the more he smelled, the more he felt his stomach cooing.

It can't be said that the attack of Beirong's uprising was too fast. Although Nie Kong made careful preparations, because the sentry in charge of the night was first quietly killed by the Beirong sneaker, so when Nie Kong was shocked, the fight had been fiercely launched.

Nie Kong should be glad that camping is an absolutely correct choice in the woods. If it weren't for tonight, their camping site is exactly the poplar forest in this sand nest, but in other slightly open places. The consequences will be unimaginable, because their carriages and horses can't enter the woods, and the cavalry of Beirong will enter the forest. , and they can't do it, so they all abandon their horses to fight, but the Northern Rong cavalry who abandoned their horses seems to lack one of their two arms. In terms of martial arts and combat effectiveness, they are not better than the soldiers of Mingsha Camp.

When the battle was at its most intense, even Nie Kong personally solved seven or eight Beirong cavalry, but the other party had a large number of people and took advantage of it. The soldiers of Nie Kong and Mingsha Camp faced several times more enemies, and gradually became physically weak. Nie Kong knew that if it went on like this, it would only become more and more unfavorable to them. Because I don't know if there are any reinforcements behind these enemies.

Nie Kong shook off the entanglement of an enemy. He looked around and found that a man was still riding on a horse, swirling in the forest, and his mouth was still roaring and shouting wildly. Nie Kong concluded that this man was the leader of the cavalry, so he waved his sword and went straight to the man. The guy had a fierce face and a fancy whistle on his head. As soon as he saw someone rushing towards him, his mouth was even more edative, dancing with a big knife to fight.

The two weapons clashed and made a crisp sound. Nie Kong was shocked and retreated several steps and hit the trunk of the tree. He was secretly shocked that the dead barbarian was really powerful. In addition, he was on the horse, and he was already at a loss, and he could not stand the opponent's strong counterattack with the back of the knife. Although the soldier's book often said that the thief captured the king first, it was not a piece of the king. It's easy.

Nie Kong took advantage of the opportunity to kick the tree trunk and flew to the guy again. The long sword pointed straight to the front door, and the other party hurriedly raised a knife to meet each other. Unexpectedly, when he was close, Nie Kong's sword turned sharply and stabbed the other party's knife. The leader of the Beirong cavalry was not a fuel-efficient lamp. He danced the knife body and blocked Nie Kong with a knife rod. During the attack, Nie Kong turned his backhand, and the tip of the sword poked on the knife rod. He jumped over the guy's head and fell from the other side. Didn't wait for the guy to react, Nie Kong's sword cut off the two legs together.

In the sad sound of the horse, the leader of Beirong was thrown a few meters away from the horse's head by a straight mount. He rolled several times on the ground. Nie Kong strped to catch up and was preparing to take advantage of the opportunity to kill the other party. Unexpectedly, there was suddenly more people beside the head of Beirong, blocking between them. Nie Kong could not be avoided, only We have to give up chasing the leader of Beirong for the time being and solve the people in front of us first.

When he killed the enemy, in a blink of an eye, the leader of Beirong had disappeared, and nothing was left on the ground except the dying horse. Nie Kong was very anxious. He was afraid that releasing the enemy back to the mountain would attract more Northern cavalry, so he roughly estimated a position and chased him with his sword.

Not far from chasing out of the camp, he saw two dark shadows fighting together. Then he almost fell under his feet and stared at it, but it was the body of the Beirong cavalry. Nie Kong concluded that one of the two shadows must be his own. He immediately shouted, "Don't let him go. He is the leader of the Beirong cavalry and can't let go. The tiger returns to the mountain!"

"Don't worry, he can't run away!" One of them replied, and Nie Kong was overjoyed, because it was Xu Chenglin who came. The appearance of Xu Chenglin meant that their backups had arrived.

It was not until the fourth update of the Tianjiaotian soldiers that they killed the remaining enemies. After the war, Nie Kong and Xu Chenglin dragged their tired bodies to count their respective numbers. Both teams of people and horses lost. Seventeen of Nie Kong's people died and nine were injured, while Xu Chenglin's people died and ten were injured. Behind them He just arrived, so the loss was better than Nie Kong's. However, compared with the enemy, this loss is already a complete victory.

The soldiers were busy cleaning up the scene and burying their brothers. Although they won, their expressions were very heavy. Nie Kong and Xu Chenglin, before they arrived at Yuzi, they lost so many brothers. What should they do next? They have to make up again.

Xu Chenglin gave a general talk about how he found that Nie Kong and others were followed by Bei Rong Tanma. Nie Kong said sadly, "It's all my fault for my negligence. I didn't expect their Tan Ma to be so powerful, and I didn't know that they had been tracking us for a few days, but I didn't notice it at all."

"The Northern Cavalry is more familiar with the terrain than us, and it is so difficult to detect their tracking!" Xu Chenglin comforted Nie Kong and said, "It has happened. Now it's not the time for anyone to make mistakes in self-criticism. The last general is just worried that the Beirong cavalry will not forget the rest of the way."

"You're right. Although this guy is in our hands, none of us understand his language. Only when we find Jiang Zhidao can their guide understand Beirong language, so we can't immediately find out which part they belong to, how many people and horses they are, etc., but the only advantage of retezing him alive is that they can Using him as a hostage, if he is heavy enough, he will probably keep us safe for a long journey," Nie Kong said worriedly. "I don't know what's wrong with Jiang Zhidao now, but from the marks they left behind, it seems that they have not encountered danger. Do you think they will be attacked like us?"

Xu Chenglin thought for a moment, "The last general doesn't think so. If they also encounter a raid, they will definitely send a few people to break out and report the news. This is what we agreed in advance, and if Beirong plunders them, he will not take the hard attack tonight. They can completely pretend to attract the business travelers later. Dang."

"Maybe! I hope!" Nie Kong frowned and sighed deeply, "It's hard to say everything now. The sudden situation is faster than we estimated. I hope they can enter the Yuzi boundary safely and smoothly. At least Beirong and Yuzi have not yet handed over. The Beirong cavalry only dares to enter the looting and attack like I dealt with the border, and then withdraw. Go, and don't dare to officially send a large group of cavalry to enter, so as long as you can reach Yuzi, you will be half safe.