Late Tang

On the Ruzhou Mountain Road in the northwest of Yanjing, several knights in leather robes with bald hair and left lapels were galloping southward, gradually entering the valley where the Yinshan, Yanshan, and Taihang Mountains were sandwiched between the three major mountain ranges.

It was just at sunset, and the dark, long and steep mountain valley road seemed to be a crack left by the collision of three giant dragons. This is the mouth of the northern scenic spot.It has always been the passage from Hedong to the grassland and into Yanzhao, and it is also the gateway from the land of Youyan to Jin and out of the fortress.One place connects the three places of Hedong, Hebei, and the Grassland outside the Great Wall.

After Li Jing shifted his focus to Yanjing, the status here became more and more important.

Li Jing once said to the generals, Confucian state, Nanping Yanjing, control the desert later, control the danger of the military capital on the left, and embrace the solidity in the cloud on the right, sincerely the frontier.

This is a place that military strategists must contend for, especially in the current situation, Yanjing, the center of the Qin Dynasty, Li Keyong in the east of the river, Khitan in the grassland, and Confucianism have become the battlegrounds of the three.Jing Xiang, the envoy of the Staff Council, also reported that Confucian state had mountains and rivers disputes, and the land was dangerous and narrow. , the key is obvious.

Qin Jun took down Junduguan, and he just controlled the last gate on this passage. The whole passage is still in the hands of Li Keyong.

Li Keyong first won the military capital and then lost it, being blocked outside the pass.However, Li Keyong also knew the importance of the four prefectures in front of the mountain. After the defeat of Junduguan, most of the troops were sent to the four prefectures in front of the mountain. He built two stone castles, one between Confucianism and Guizhou, to guard against the Qin army in the east.One was built on the mountain pass in the north of Confucian Prefecture, but it guarded the main road leading to the grassland, obviously to guard against its allies Khitan.The two stone castles and Confucian City form a three-legged horn, which is the core of the Shatuo Army in front of the mountain.

The heavy horn sounded from the top of the city, and the black Shatuo clan was shrouded in the gorgeous sunset glow of the western sky.

When the leather robed knight flew to the gate like lightning, the gate of Blackstone Fort was closing rumblingly.The horses of that team of knights were extremely handsome, and their riding skills were even more sensitive. With a long hiss, all the knights passed through the stone gate that was about to close, causing the Shatuo soldiers on the top of the city to cheer loudly.

"Who is the one who broke through the barrier?" The cheers belonged to the applause, but if someone broke through the barrier, the Shatuo soldiers still yelled and asked immediately.If it weren't for the fact that they only had a few riders, they would have already been raining arrows.

"Khitan envoy!" The leading knight replied loudly, also speaking in Shatuo language.

Both Khitan and Shatuo were once vassal tribes of the Turks, but one was in the west and the other was in the east.But now, there is no king in the grassland, Shatuo and Khitan have gradually risen, and now they have a common goal and become allies.Now, Shatuo and Khitan are in the honeymoon period, so the guards of Shatuo just checked each other's identity and let them go.And also sent a team of cavalry to escort them to Yanmen.

In the afterglow of the setting sun, the Shatuo knights escorted the Khitan knights like a red cloud, passing the open field and the surging river to the south, leaving the Black Rock Fort far behind in the blink of an eye.

"It's getting late, let's rest here tonight and let the horses regain some strength." The leading Khitan knight said.

The escorting Shatuo cavalry looked at the sky and nodded. There was no village or shop behind here, and it was really inappropriate to drive at night, so they agreed to come down.A group of people rolled off the saddle and got off the horses, feeding and drinking the horses, boiling water for cooking, and setting up tents, all in good order.

The Khitan envoy took the initiative to chat with the Shatuo guards for a while, and then they all went to their accounts to rest early.The Khitan envoys even enthusiastically proposed that their people be on duty in the first half of the night, but Shatuo's guards declined a few words, and finally agreed.

Immediately ran for a day, and soon everyone fell asleep, snoring loudly.

In the cold autumn wind, the Khitan envoys who had been asleep all of a sudden sneaked out of the tent one by one.The first Khitan envoy measured the tent of the Shatuo guards. Under the silver moonlight, he waved his right hand cruelly and made several complicated gestures. The other eight Khitan knights nodded and left.

The Khitan knights pulled out their scimitars one after another, and entered the tent of the Shatuo guards. After a low voice, several Khitan knights came out of the tent again.

"All of them have been solved. Of the fifty Shatuo dogs, all of them have been killed." A sturdy Khitan knight said in Khitan dialect.

The leading Khitan envoy said in Chinese: "Good job."

Of the nine Khitan envoys in this team, except for the leader, the other eight are genuine Khitans, only the leader is actually an agent of the Qin Army Intelligence Bureau.The sigils they carried on their bodies were all real, which they took from the team of real Khitan envoys who ambush and robbed outside the stone castle.The letter carried by the Khitan envoy was also seized by them, but the content of the letter has been changed.

In the early morning of the next day, the nine people did not leave immediately, but continued to rest here. Among them, the leader left alone for half a day, and when he came back, he was followed by fifty riders.After the fifty riders arrived, they immediately put on the armor, clothing, horses and weapons of the Shatuo people, replacing the original team.It was not until the next morning that they set off again, heading straight for Yanmen.

Walking gradually south, three days later, a black city could be seen standing between the mountains in the distance.From a distance, the city is not very big.In the afterglow of the setting sun, the city is like a giant black beast crouching on the mountain pass.

As a group of knights galloped closer, it was gradually visible that there were soldiers in black armor swimming in the arrow tower of the east gate facing the setting sun, hunting and flying black banners with two white characters "Sha Tuo" written on them.

This is Yanmen, the royal city of Shatuo people.

There are nine frontiers in the world, and Yanmen is the leader.

It is located on Gouzhu Mountain, Xiongguan is surrounded by mountains and dangerous, with east and west wings and undulating mountains.The Great Wall on the ridge is winding.Go east to Taihang, reach Youyan, and connect to the vast sea.West to Luliang, until the Yellow River.

The terrain of Yanmen is very dangerous, and it has been a place for ancient military strategists to fight.During the Warring States Period, Li Mu, the general of the State of Zhao, was stationed in Yanmen. He relied on the danger of closing the city to defend carefully and defeated the Huns with 10 horses. The famous generals Li Guang, Wei Qing, and Huo Qubing of the Han Dynasty once led their troops to fight the Xiongnu here and won a complete victory. , Megatron outside the Great Wall; Sui Yang Emperor Yang Guang once led his troops to fight against Turks here; Tang general Xue Rengui once chased Turkic soldiers here.

Yanmen Pass has always been an important border town in the Central Plains. In the early years, Shatuo people moved outside Yanmen Pass, mainly in Shuozhou, and later developed into Yunzhou.

For the first time, Shatuo rebelled against the Tang Dynasty. After the Battle of Daibei, Shatuo was defeated, and the two prefectures of Yunshuo were lost, so they could not escape beyond the Great Wall.After Li Keyong returned to the Central Plains again, he immediately seized the opportunity to rebel against the Tang Dynasty for the second time, capturing the seven prefectures of Xin, Dai, Wei, Xin, Wu, Confucianism, and Gui at one time.After Li Ke used the second anti-Tang, he immediately moved the center of Shatuo to Yanmen in Daizhou, which also revealed his wolfish ambition to fight back to Yunshuo and Erzhou.

Yanmen City is not big, but it is extremely dangerous. It is adjacent to Yanbei Plateau in the north and Xinding Basin in the south.There is a man who guards the gate, and ten thousand men cannot open it.

The vassal guard of Datong is strong on the outside, the key to Taiyuan is solid inside, the root reaches the three passes, and the throat is all Jin

If Taiyuan is the center of the entire Hedong, then Yanmen can be described as the throat of the entire Hedong.Li Keyong managed Yanmen, intending to capture Yunshuo in the north, Taiyuan in the south, and finally plot the entire Hedong.

The entire city is built with huge stone slabs, more than three feet higher than ordinary cities, and even the archery tower is built of stone slabs.As the entrance and exit of the city gate, there are two heavy gates.There is not a single piece of wood in the external defense of the entire city, and ordinary fire attacks cannot deal with the city at all.

What is even more impressive is that the entire city walls, archery towers, gate towers, turrets, etc. are painted with a layer of black paint, which is black and smooth, not only mighty and terrifying, but also has a very high defensive function. The raiders have nothing to do, the black city, the black flag, the black armor, here is a black ocean.

In the twilight, the bull horns sounded from the top of the city, and the sparse pedestrians outside the city immediately stepped into the city. After the [-]th sound of the horn, the gate of Yanmen City will be closed, and then an hour later , A curfew was imposed across the city.

The fast horses galloped, and the team of knights did not slow down.

"Ruzhou Black Stone Fort escorted the Khitan envoy!" the Shatuo guard in black shouted loudly.Hearing the sound from the top of the city, a group of black-clothed soldiers rushed out of the station immediately. Later, several school lieutenants came to check their identities.He first checked the identity cards of the guards of the stone castle, and then checked the identity of the Khitan envoys, and finally confirmed that they were correct, and they personally escorted them into the city.

In Yanmen City, the street market is desolate and desolate. Compared with the prosperity and prosperity of Qin Fan's Dengzhou, Liaoyang, Duli Town, Qingni City, and Yanjing, this place is simply a desolate and remote rural mountain village.The lights in the shops are scattered, and the pedestrians on the street are scattered. Under the dim lights, the few pedestrians are dressed in simple clothes and have yellow complexions.On this street in the center of Shatuo people, there is no lively scene, and the goods sold in the shops on the street are even more limited.

But on the street, there are guards at ten steps and sentry at five steps. From time to time, patrolling soldiers with long guns can be seen passing by. The whole city is extremely quiet and depressing.

The 'Khitan envoys' and the 'Stone Castle Guards' led by a group of black-clothed Shatuo soldiers were all looking at the city seriously, trying to remember every bit of what they saw.Soon, the Shatuo soldiers brought them to the end of the long street, where there was a high city wall.

This is Yacheng in Yanmen Town, which is the Prince Jin Mansion used by Li Ke.This tooth city is taller and stronger than the outer city, and its defenses are tighter. The city gate is tightly closed, and there are two rows of black armor standing in front of the gate.

Everyone stopped, and a black-clothed general came out to greet him: "My lord, Li Cunxin, is here to welcome the Khitan envoy by the king's order. Please follow me, everyone."

The Khitan envoy jumped off the horse, handed the horse to the Shatuo people, and strode forward.

"Come here, take the other Khitan brothers and the brothers from Shicheng Castle down to entertain them." Li Cunxin stopped the others.

The leading Khitan envoy didn't object, and just smiled at Li Cunxin, which made Li Cunxin a little uncomfortable.The Yacheng gate opened, and the two entered.When passing through the doorway, taking advantage of people not paying attention, the leader of the Khitan envoy suddenly stuffed something into Li Cunxin's hands, and smiled at him, showing his white teeth.

Li Cunxin only felt that what he got was a letter, and before he had time to see what it was, he heard the messenger whisper to him: "General Zhang Wuluo, His Highness King Qin asked me to send you greetings on his behalf."

At that moment, he only felt his whole body tremble, like falling into an ice cave! (To be continued.)