Chapter 300: Shi Kingdom encounters

The straight line from Kucha to Tuozhecheng, Shiguo Capital, is about 6,000 miles, but there are deserts, snow mountains, long rivers and other obstacles, and they are winding forward, not just ten thousand miles. The trade of goods on the Silk Road, the goods of the Tang Dynasty from the Tang Dynasty to the food are worth ten thousand yuan. Because the journey is too far, most of the caravans are huge in scale, with hundreds of camels walking together, and they are struggling to move forward in the vast desert towards the East full of wealth.

The rebellion that quenched the Khorasan region was gradually coming to an end. Abbas, who established the black-clad food, also inherited the ambitions of the Wumaiye Dynasty. His sword once again pointed to the east, and he wanted to regain the vast Hanwai countries, and even the hometown of porcelain and silk - the Tang Dynasty.

From the autumn of the eighth year of Tianbao, Abbas divided his troops into two groups. One was led by general Bosilin to lead a 100,000 army to conquer Kang and the United States, and killed its king; the other was led by the governor of Barihei, Abu, and marched across the Uhu River to the Gudu Kingdom, and his king Luo Quanjie fled to the Tang Dynasty.

Under such circumstances, the king of Shiguozheng, Chebishi, who was close to the big food, sent his prince Chedudu to the big food to meet Abbas, and wanted to submit Shiguo to the big food. However, Abbas was worried that it would arouse the rebound of the Tang Dynasty, so he sent his uncle Budu as the plenipotentiary representative to mediate the dispute between Shiguo and Bahanna, and went to the Shiguo to visit Xushi. In the spring of the ninth year of Tianbao, Budu arrived at Tuozhe City.

Li Qing went on a war again after only five days of reunion with his family. This time his target was the Dayuan Governor's Office, which was thousands of miles away, which was the Shi Kingdom. This was a huge team. In addition to the Sanqian Dou Lu Army, there were nearly a hundred caravans accompanying him, which were sturdy and arranged ten miles away.

The sunset had already set, the dusk was vast, and the night was getting thicker and thicker. The three thousand beans Lu cavalry were still marching along the Zhenzhu River Canyon. The caravans had broken up a month ago. This time, the Tang army took more than two months to enter the territory of Shiguo in early May. After more than a hundred miles northwest, they would arrive at Tuozhe City. At the third update, the army finally rushed out of the Zhenzhu River Canyon. There was a vast grassland in front of them, and their vision suddenly became clear.

Cheerful, the stars covered the sky, the Zhizhu River was like a huge bent bow, and from then on, he walked north for about three miles. Seeing that the front and back view was wide and there was no possibility of being ambushed, Li Qing ordered the camp to be stationed on the spot. The soldiers were all stiff and exhausted, and the war horses were sniffing, and some were spitting white foam. When he heard the camp order, the soldiers jumped off their horses and simply built the camp. They didn't even have time to eat dry food, so they fell asleep tiredly.

Although Li Qing was extremely tired, he couldn't fall asleep. He walked out of the camp. The north wind on the grassland was violent, with a strong coldness. The wind became more and more chilly, and the dark east slowly revealed the cold silver ash.

He traveled through a thousand years to the Tang Dynasty, and then crossed thousands of miles to the distant sky. The huge gap between time and space made Li Qing's heart difficult for a while. He had been in the Tang Dynasty for almost ten years, and he had even forgotten his past, as if it was a dream that was gradually drifting away.

Until today, a word he heard fifteen years ago came to his mind, "Battle of Talas", which was a violent collision between the East and the West, and the Tang Dynasty and the Arab Empire. The details had long disappeared in the wind and smoke of time. Only this word is firmly engraved in the depths of Li Qing's memory. When the Tang Dynasty was defeated, the Anxi army was almost wiped out.

He didn't know the reason for the failure, nor did he know how tragic the battlefield was. Looking at the silent camp and listening to the soldiers' murmuring dreams, it was his longing for his hometown and his longing for his relatives from afar. He only knew that he was carrying the safety of millions of soldiers on his shoulders and the honor and dignity of a country.

The past cannot be recalled, so let it disappear into the long river of history and let that tragic history turn in your hands, just like the Zhenzhu River turning north in front of you.

‘Why don’t a man bring Wu Gou and collect the fifty states of Guanshan Mountain? Please go to Lingyan Pavilion for a while and be a marquis of Wanhu in the Tang Dynasty!’

For a moment, his mind was stirred and he couldn't help but raise his hands high and leaned towards the sky, as if under the boundless sky, there were his fiefs of Li Qing.

The sky slowly turned red, and the Tang army's camp was busy. They cut down trees to build fences, dug deep into trenches, buried antlers and trenches. Li Qing, wearing white robe, and Nan Jiyun, in silver helmet and silver armor, walked through the crowds of soldiers who were busy, greeting the soldiers from time to time. Wu Xingsu and Duan Xiushi followed from a distance, with serious expressions.

"According to the deployment of the court, I went here to mediate the dispute between the two countries. It is inappropriate to bring too many soldiers. Jiyun, you will lead the soldiers here. I will only bring three hundred cavalry."

Nan Jiyun remained silent for a long time before he slowly said: "Yangming, this is not Nanzhao. We know nothing about it. Three hundred cavalry is too dangerous!"

Li Qing smiled and said, "Ban Chao, who was alone with a hundred cavalry, dared to go deep into the Western Regions and kill the enemy chiefs. I had three thousand guards and still shrank my hands and feet. If the old ancestors underground knew about it, wouldn't we be shamed?"

Nan Jiyun lowered his head and smiled, "I judged it with the heart of an ordinary person, but you are not an ordinary person. Maybe I am worried too much, so go! I will send a scout to contact you at any time. Whenever there is any situation, I will come to pick you up immediately."

Li Qing nodded, straightened his body and looked north. A flock of sheep and shepherds began to appear in the distance. He turned around and whispered loudly to Wu Xingsu: "Go too! Take two more brothers with you."

A quarter of an hour later, a team of cavalry rushed out of the camp and drove north like lightning.

The sun has risen to the east, the weather is clear, and the grassland is lush. When you look up, you can see endless green green. The breeze caresses your face, which makes you feel refreshed. White clouds hang low in the air, sometimes staying on the hills, like a huge white castle. The Tang army ran along the Jade Belt River. After an hour, dozens of miles had been thrown behind.

The sheep gradually increased here, and the herdsmen fled far away and looked at the strange team in surprise. Indeed, this was the first time that the Tang army had appeared on this land in a century. Many people from Shiguo who had never left their hometown in their lives had never seen the Tang army.

At this time, a horse ran towards this side quickly, and immediately, one of them was waving his arms desperately at them, shouting loudly, his voice vaguely, and he didn't know what he was calling.

It was not until he approached that Tang Jun saw clearly that he was a middle-aged man with dark and rough skin, no different from the Hu people they saw along the way, but he was so excited that he burst into tears, almost rushing off his horse, kneeling in front of Tang Jun and crying loudly. He tried his best to tear his hair and pulled apart the small braids that were wrapped around his head.

After a while, two Tang soldiers helped him to Li Qing and said sadly: "Governor, he is a Han native. His hometown is in Chang'an. He has been plundered here by the Turks for twenty years."

Li Qing looked at the tearful face covered with soil and grass, with her hair loose and deep wrinkles. She was plundered for twenty years. Perhaps it was the first time she saw the Tang army and saw her relatives. Li Qing's nose was sore and her eyes were a little wet.

"Where is your home in Chang'an?"

"My home?" He looked a little confused, and suddenly his eyes flashed, as if he remembered something, and stuttered in Chinese that was about to be forgotten: "My home... is here, in Pingkangfang, my mother is still at home."

Speaking of mother, his tears flowed down again, "Puu!" knelt in front of Li Qing and begged mournfully: "You... take me away! Take me home."

Duan Xiushi sighed and asked Li Qing: "Governor! Do you bring him with you?"

All the soldiers looked to Li Qing expectantly, and the miserable experiences of their compatriots made all Tang soldiers feel extremely heavy.

"Change him some clothes and bring them with you!"

Everyone changed his military uniforms. He touched his military robe with his hands and feet stiffly, and couldn't help crying while covering his face. Li Qing shook his head and continued to ride his horse forward. At this moment, he was extremely angry. The Turks had endangered the border for decades, and the people of the Tang Dynasty were more than tens of millions of people who were abducted, and most of them were sold as slaves. The situation was tragic, but the court never cared about them. Is this the style of a great country?

After a while, Duan Xiushi rode his horse and said to Li Qing: "Governor, I have asked him, his name is Wang Qilang. He was originally hired to a caravan. In the 18th year of Kaiyuan, he was captured in Tingzhou and sold to a herdsman as a slave. It has been more than twenty years since he heard from him that most of the Tang people who were captured were placed in Shiguo, and there were also many Han craftsmen in the city."

A thought suddenly arose in Li Qing's mind and turned to Duan Xiushi and said, "Ask him, are you familiar with the terrain distribution of the Shi Kingdom? Do you know any craftsmen in the city?"

"Yes!" Duan Xiushi responded, turned around and left.

After a moment he came back to report, "Governor, he said he knew everything!"

"Then let him be our guide!"

As soon as Li Qing finished speaking, he suddenly heard the sound of horns "Woo! Woo!" in front of him, and the horns were low and long.

"It's a military call!" Duan Xiushi's face changed drastically. He had been a scout in Anxi, knowing that this was a common horn used by the Hu army.

"Don't hurry, look at the movement." Li Qing blocked the dazzling sunlight with his hands. He saw dozens of eagles suddenly appearing and circling in the air. It should be a falcon.

After a moment, a fierce sound of horse hooves came from the front, and a black cavalry crossed the hill and rushed towards it. There were about a thousand people. In front of them, dozens of small black dots were leading the way.

"They are here to hunt." Li Qingyi tied the reins and ordered the soldiers to line up, waiting for the hunting team to approach.

The loud trumpet sounded again, echoing in the sky. The herdsmen were already in horror and ran away. A large group of cavalry rushed over and quickly formed a fan to surround the Tang army.

"Where are your troops? Why did you appear in the territory of my Shi Kingdom?"

An officer rushed forward and asked loudly in Turkic language. He looked at Li Qing with doubts. He saw Li Qing wearing a black lacquered gauze hat, a purple robe, holding a flag in his hand, and a faint smile on his face.

"Don't ask, they are the envoys from the Tang Dynasty and our most honorable guests." At this time, a knight came out of the team, covered in armor, holding a long bow in his hand, and carrying a sword in his waist. He rode on a horse and stood upright, looking heroic. He was extremely handsome, with his eyes as deep as an ice pool, staring at Li Qing with sharp eyes.
Chapter completed!