Lead-gray clouds pressed tightly against the earth, and pale sunlight filtered through the gaps in the clouds and fell weakly on the withered yellow fields. The west wind blowing from the low hills in the distance came "woo, woo" in waves, like
An invisible long whip waved in the air, sharply lashing the loess field. Among the trembling weeds and the exposed yellow sand, a gray hare occasionally jumped out and picked up a pair of
The plump sandgrouse disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye, making the wilderness look even more desolate and lonely.
A black line appeared on the dark gray hills to the west. This black line moved slowly and gradually appeared into a team. The team was long and winding down the undulating hills. The team was messy and complex.
, hustle and bustle, at the front and rear of the team are fully armed knights, all of them covered in dust, with tired and serious expressions. Many of the knights are leading a few empty-saddle horses and colts behind them. In the middle of the team are many large and small carriages
, the car was filled with tents, food and baggage, and was also crowded with women and children. One to two hundred camels laden with water and sundries were also crowded in the caravan. Dogs barked, horses neighed, and people shouted at the animals.
The sound came in the autumn wind whining, coming from far away, making this empty and lonely wasteland suddenly more alive.
This was a large-scale transfer of people, but there were no large herds of cattle or sheep in sight. Only a herd of horses followed the team, driven by more than a dozen herdsmen. It was also very different from the calm and leisurely atmosphere of the past when the herdsmen moved around. The entire team moved in
He seemed to be hasty and restless while walking.
Twenty or thirty knights in military uniforms rushed to the front of the team, surrounded by a leader on a black horse. The leader wore a bronze helmet, a fox fur cloak, and tight-fitting soft armor. He stood upright on the saddle and looked very majestic.
Stopping his horse, he looked forward for a while with two sharp and sinister eyes, then looked up at the gradually darkening sky, and glanced at the team marching around him. He seemed to be very dissatisfied with the speed of the team's progress and the fatigue and laziness displayed by the entire team.
atmosphere.
This knight on the black horse is Gao Fei. He fled all the way back from Huangzhong. He would visit the cities he passed along the way and tell the county magistrate, county lieutenant or prefect about the upcoming Qiang and Hu rebellion, but those people were officials
Everyone smiled disdainfully, no one believed what Gao Fei said.
Gao Fei didn't force it. He had already done his best to be benevolent and righteous. If he couldn't tell the officials, he could only tell the people. He asked Zhao Yun, Pang De and others to spread the news among the cities separately. The people were doubtful, but only
A small number of people were willing to follow Gao Fei, and some people were gathered along the way, and a team of more than 2,000 people was formed.
Gao Fei stopped his horse. Seeing how slowly the team was moving, he turned his horse's head and said sternly to Xia Houlan behind him: "Hurry up and hurry up. Don't wait like this. You don't even want to live? Let the old man do it."
, the child sits on the carriage, and I whip the disobedient animals to make them run!"
After listening to Gao Fei's order, Xia Houlan rode towards the back of the team. After a while, the shouts and whistles in the team became louder and denser; the huge and messy team immediately became more organized and compact.
, horses, and vehicles all started trotting "嘘嘘嘘".
After a while, a dozen fast horses followed from far behind, led by Zhao Yun. Zhao Yun rode a fat yellow horse, galloped to Gao Fei, reined in the horse, and bowed his hand to Gao Fei.
, said: "Master Hou, Jincheng has been captured, the Qiang guards and the Jincheng prefect have all been killed, Beigong Boyu supports Bianzhang, Han Sui has become the leader of the rebels, and hundreds of thousands of Qiang and Hu are heading towards Yuzhong.
, another cavalry team of more than 10,000 people, led by Beigong Boyu himself, came towards Longxi, threatening... and vowing not to give up until the Marquis is captured!"
After hearing this, Gao Fei frowned and asked, "Where is Pang De?"
Zhao Yun said: "Pang De and a few people are still behind to inquire about the news. Mr. Hou, Xiangwu is not far ahead. Beigong Boyu will never dare to come up no matter how fast he is. This team has been running for three days in a row.
Now, everyone is very tired, so why not take a rest for the night when we arrive at Xiangwu, so that everyone can relax."
Gao Fei nodded and said to Zhao Yun: "Send someone to notify Pang De and ask him to come back quickly. If he encounters Beigong Boyu's large army and is unable to leave even if he wants to, there is no need to pry for information.
There are also 20,000 troops from Liangzhou Governor in Hanyang County, we can use them to block the attack first."
Zhao Yun cupped his fists and said, "No! I will send someone to call Pang De back now!"
Beigong Boyu returned to Luodu Valley the day after Gao Fei and others escaped. After learning that Gao Fei had escaped, he rebelled in advance. On the one hand, he sent people to contact the Qiang people, and on the other hand, he personally led a large group of cavalry to pursue Gao Fei.
When he arrived in Poqiang County, he learned that Gao Fei had already gone far away, so he massacred seven hundred households in Poqiang County in a fit of anger, and then attacked and killed wherever he went, killing those who did not follow him in rebellion.
When he arrived at the Prefect of Jincheng, he was caught off guard and was killed by Beigong Boyu without any defense.
On the other hand, the Qiang people who received the news from Beigong Boyu quickly gathered their troops and launched a siege of more than 100,000 troops to protect the Qiang Colonel stationed in Huangzhong. How could the 10,000 troops of the Qiang Colonel Guard be able to withstand it?
In just half a day, they were completely slaughtered by the Qiang people. Later, the two armies met in Jincheng. Beigong Boyu himself was not famous enough, so he elected Bianzhang and Han Sui, who had been kidnapped from Jincheng, as the leader. Bianzhang, Han Sui
So he simply became the leader of the rebel army, commanding hundreds of thousands of Qiang and Hu rebels to attack the counties of Jincheng County, and dispatched detachments to attack surrounding counties. He himself led the army to attack Yuzhong, preparing to enter Hanyang from Yuzhong
The county was caught off guard by the governor of Liangzhou.
In the evening, Gao Fei and others could already see the city wall of Xiangwu.
The transmission of information in ancient times was very backward. Everything in Xiangwu City was peaceful, and no one knew anything about Beigong Boyu's rebellion. At the gate of the city, Bian Xi rode a horse and waited there early. For ten days, he followed the instructions.
Gao Fei's orders visited the three wealthy households in Longxi County one by one and stole a lot of gold from them. He just returned to Xiangwu yesterday and began to wait for Gao Fei's return at the city gate.
As the sun set in the west and the twilight dimmed, Bian Xi saw a troop of about two thousand people heading towards Xiangwu from a distance. Then he looked closely and saw that the leader was Gao Fei. He felt happy and ran over quickly, thinking:
"The Marquis is really capable. Four people went there and more than 2,000 people came back. I didn't expect that I could recruit so many warriors in one trip to Huangzhong."
When he approached Gao Fei's team, Bian Xi saw clearly that this was simply a migration of refugees. Everyone's face looked very tired, old and young, men and women, and there were only more than a hundred real Liangzhou athletes. He hurriedly planned
The horse came to Gao Fei's side and immediately clasped his fists and said: "See you, Lord Marquis!"
Gao Fei also looked tired. If he hadn't brought these people with him, he should have arrived at Xiangwu yesterday. In addition, he had to take care of them along the way so as not to fall behind, as well as a little friction between the people. It was simply a mess.
Fortunately, almost all of these people can ride horses, and every house also has a carriage. Otherwise, they might not be able to reach Xiangwu the day after tomorrow. When he saw Bian Xi dismounting with excitement on his face, he reined in the horse and asked Zhao Yun and Xiahou to
Lan, Pei Yuanshao and others escorted the people slowly into the city. He got off his horse, walked to Bian Xi, and asked slowly: "How did you do what I told you?"
Bian Xi replied: "Don't worry, Lord Marquis, my subordinates have done everything. In the past few days, they have taken three to four thousand kilograms of gold from three wealthy households. If someone helps me, I may get more.
It will be too troublesome for the next person to carry it.”
Gao Fei nodded with satisfaction and said: "This is enough, don't be greedy. By the way, no one doubts you, right?"
Bian Xi said: "Don't worry, Mr. Hou, no one saw me commit the crime, so there is no doubt."
Gao Fei smiled and said: "Very good, I guess they never dreamed that a noble prince like me would actually commit such a theft. It's just from the people, use it for the people, not to mention that we use the money to suppress the rebellion.
, that is to say, they have made some contribution to countering the rebellion."
"Suppressing the rebellion?" Bian Xi looked at the people passing by and asked, "Master Marquis, where is the rebellion?"
Gao Fei said: "The Qiang and Hu rebels have hundreds of thousands of people, and Liangzhou is going to suffer. Without further ado, let's enter the city quickly. Let's rest in the city for a night, and then mobilize the whole city to evacuate. Otherwise,
, once the rebels attack here, they will all be affected."
Bian Xi said "Promise", then led the horse and followed Gao Fei into Xiangwu City.
After entering Xiangwu City, Gao Fei returned home first and found the chiefs of the Gao clan and asked them to help solve the problem of food and accommodation for the people. But more than two thousand people are not a small number, let alone the entire Xiangwu City.
There were only more than 2,000 people in the village. However, relying on the title of the Marquis and Gao Fei's reputation in Xiangwu City, the solution was quickly resolved, allowing each household to accept one person.
After finishing all this, Gao Fei didn't have time to rest, so he hurriedly took Zhao Yun to the county government office. When the county magistrate and county lieutenant heard about the Qiang and Hu rebellion, they were very frightened and expressed their willingness to mobilize the entire city to evacuate without hesitation and sent out government officials.
The evacuation news was notified door to door, so that the people in the city were ready to evacuate. All valuables, food and drink were taken away.
When I returned home, it was already night, and the lights in the Gao clan's ancestral hall were brightly lit. It turned out that Xia Houlan told the Gao clan leader about recruiting volunteers, and the clan leader gathered a hundred strong men from the entire clan at the ancestral hall.
Here, they all expressed their willingness to follow Gao Fei to resist the rebels. The chief of the Gao family contacted the chiefs of other clans in the city. The other chiefs also followed this method and recruited warriors. Overnight, there were 340 volunteers, plus the original
The more than 160 sabers who followed Gao Fei back formed a team of 500 people.
The Yiyong family has horses, and everyone has a bow and arrow, and they are all skilled in bow and horse, so this makes Gao Fei a little overjoyed, and he feels from the bottom of his heart that his hometown is better.
At dawn the next day, under the escort of 500 cavalry, more than 4,000 people evacuated the entire city and began to head toward Chencang along the official road.
At two quarters of the hour, only the last part of the evacuated people was left. Pound returned from the west gate alone. His whole body seemed to have been baptized with blood, and his eyes were red. The horses under him were also sweating like rain. It seemed that he had been there all night.
Return from running wildly.
As soon as Gao Fei saw Pang De, he hurriedly went up to him. He saw Pang De falling off his horse. There was a stab wound on his left arm. The skin was ripped open and blood was oozing out. He hurriedly asked with concern.
: "Pound, did you encounter rebels?"
Pound grabbed Gao Fei with his bloody hand and said hurriedly: "Master Marquis, my subordinate was bitten by the front of the rebels. All the brothers accompanying him died. My subordinates fought hard and managed to escape. Now the rebels
The more than a thousand cavalry in front are already less than thirty miles away. Lord Marquis, please hurry up and head towards Jicheng, where the governor's office is and there are still 20,000 officers and soldiers...cough cough cough..."
The bald Pei Yuanshao immediately squeezed out of the crowd, with a bandage wrapped around his arm. The bandage had already been stained with blood. It was an arrow wound left when he broke out from Luodu Valley a few days ago. As soon as he arrived
When he reached Gao Fei's side, he loudly replied: "Master Hou!"
"Take a few brothers to take good care of Pang De, and let Xiahoulan and Bian Xi take two hundred cavalry to escort the people to evacuate. Let the county magistrate and county lieutenant command along the way. Go to Jicheng to hide first." After saying this, Gao Gao
Fei turned his face and said to Zhao Yun beside him, "Zilong, you and I will bring three hundred cavalry to the rear. We must not let the front of the rebel army bite the common people!"
Zhao Yun clasped his fists and said: "I understand, I will go and gather troops immediately, but... what should Marquis Li Wen do?"
"Li Wenhou?" In the past few days, Li Wenhou has been detained by Gao Fei. Gao Fei was busy doing other things along the way, but he forgot about Li Wenhou. When Zhao Yun reminded him, he hurriedly said, "Keep him here too."
Come on, maybe it will be of some use to the rebels!"
Zhao Yun said "Promise" and immediately walked out to greet people.
Gao Fei held Pang De's hand tightly and said to Pang De: "Ling Ming, you are overworked and injured again. For the time being, you will follow the main army and rest for a while after arriving in Jicheng. When I come, we will be together again.
Retreat to Chencang."
Pang De endured the pain and said: "Master Marquis, I want to stay... I want to stay and kill the rebels... Yeah..."
Gao Fei shook his head and said to Pei Yuanshao: "Carry Ling Ming away quickly, and send someone back to Chencang to inform Liao Hua and Lu Heng, asking them to be prepared to receive the people and resist the rebels, and prepare more rolling logs and stones to place on the city wall.
superior."
Pei Yuanshao said: "My subordinates know!"
Pang De was carried away by Pei Yuanshao and his men, put on a carriage, and followed the people to evacuate. In order not to cause panic among the people, Gao Fei did not tell them the news of the arrival of the rebel front, but only called the county
Ling and the county lieutenant asked them to direct the people to evacuate as quickly as possible, and also asked them to go to Jicheng to tell the governor to prepare for defense.
Therefore, Gao Fei, Zhao Yun and 300 cavalry stayed behind and took the lead in ambush in the city before the rebels arrived, just waiting for the front of the rebels to arrive.