Du Ruhui sneered: "There is no room for them in the Tang Dynasty. It is a good choice for the whole family to flee outside the Tang Dynasty."
"After arriving in the territory of the original Western Turks, it is estimated that they will continue westward until they reach the far west and completely get rid of the threat of the Tang Dynasty."
Cheng Yaojin asked: "Then what should we do now?
How about I lead troops to intercept?"
"But in this way, Liangzhou will be completely empty. If these traitors take advantage of the loophole, the losses will be huge."
Du Ruhui looked at Cheng Yaojin, pointed at the map and said, "The Linghu family must be secretly watching you. It's impossible for you to go ahead of them through the Hexi Corridor."
"Gong Lu, if we don't take the Hexi Corridor, can we reach Xiakou Mountain from the north of Heli Mountain?"
Cheng Yaojin's eyes widened: "Old Du, what do you mean?"
"Not to mention how many times we have to go around, there is still the endless Gobi Desert. If we could just go there, the Hexi Corridor would not be called a strategic location."
Du Ruhui frowned and said, "Not even a small army?"
Cheng Yaojin shook his head like a rattle: Lao Du, please stop cheating me, I won’t be fooled by you anyway.
Du Ruhui said to himself: "In this case, I will send an urgent letter to Governor Li Daliang and ask him if there is anything he can do."
Cheng Yaojin wanted to give Du Ruhui a slap in the face, but said helplessly: "Old Du, the north is really too dangerous."
"Why don't you send a letter to Hou Junji and ask him to send troops to intercept it?"
Du Ruhui shook his head: "Not to mention the chaos now, whether the messenger can arrive,"
"Linghu's family must be in Dunhuang and Yiwu must have manpower, and Hou Junji's every move must be under surveillance."
Cheng Yaojin looked at the map, glared at Du Ruhui, and finally said helplessly:
"Hmph! I, Old Cheng, will fall for your trick and risk my life!"
"But this march is very dangerous, so I, Old Cheng, will prepare first!"
After saying that, Cheng Yaojin left in a hurry.
If you are not fully prepared to cross the uninhabited Gobi Desert, you are courting death!
After Cheng Yaojin left, Du Ruhui continued to stare at the map of the Western Regions in a daze.
After a long time, Du Ruhui focused his gaze on the westernmost southwest corner.
"Riverland!"
"It seems that this is their goal."
"Perhaps not just the Linghu family, this place may be the destination for many people."
After Cheng Yaojin completed preparations, he quietly left Liangzhou.
Du Ruhui did not go to see him off, but had someone send him a handwritten letter.
Cheng Yaojin disguised himself as a grain and forage team delivering supplies to Li Daliang, and suddenly headed west halfway into the vast desert!
Three thousand elites, each with two horses, leading a camel, carrying a compass snatched from his son, and local Qiang and Turkic guides.
Cheng Yaojin was confident that he would cross the Gobi desert and arrive at the northern foot of Xiakou Mountain ahead of schedule.
After plundering Liangzhou, Ganzhou, Suzhou, and Guazhou, the rebels in the Hexi Corridor began to gather to the northwest of Ganzhou, and then headed north along the Heishui River toward Juyanhai.
After arriving at Juyanhai, Linghuyu breathed a long sigh of relief: "Fortunately, it didn't attract Du Ruhui's attention!"
"Renovate here for a day before heading north. Send someone to notify Xiao Siye and ask him to retreat with Xue Yantuo, and then start moving westward."
After receiving the news that Xiu Tuze's Xue Yantuo troops had begun to retreat, Du Ru said darkly: I hope Cheng Yaojin can arrive in time!
After resting for a day in Juyanhai, Linghuyu received a letter from Dunhuang:
"Isn't the response slow? Troops have been sent to Juyanhai."
"But it's too late!"
Linghu Yu threw the letter aside and said to a Qiang leader: "Can you explore the road ahead?"
The Qiang leader laughed and said, "Don't worry, Chief Linghu, our tribe has walked this road many times!"
Linghu Yu said happily: "Okay, let's go! Cross the pass of the gorge, and from now on, the sky will be high and birds can fly!"
Led by the Qiang people, Linghu Yu led the Hexi rebels into Xiakou Mountain.
Xiakou Mountain is not a high mountain, but a low hill in the desert with a canyon leading directly to the shores of Juyanhai Lake.
Huo Qubing in the Han Dynasty defeated the Huns here, and Lu Bode built a military stronghold here. It was one of the fortresses against the Huns in the Han Dynasty.
After the separation of the Turks, this place became a no-nonsense zone.
Seeing that the large group of people were about to walk out of the canyon, Linghu Yu looked back: From now on, the Linghu family will leave their homeland and go to the barbaric land to join the barbarians!
Linghu Yu was sighing with emotion when suddenly there was a loud noise from the mouth of the valley!
"boom!"
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Several more explosions were heard, mixed with screams and wails!
The Qiang people who had just walked out of the valley were already in chaos.
Linghu Yu suddenly broke out in cold sweat: That was the sound of gunpowder bombs exploding, he was familiar with it!
There is an enemy ambush at the entrance of the valley!
The Qiang people were ambushed at the entrance of the valley, and they were about to retreat into the valley in chaos.
Linghuyu tried to calm down and shouted loudly:
"Our pursuers from behind will arrive soon. Retreating will only lead to death!"
"If you want to survive, rush forward!"
"There won't be many enemies at Taniguchi!"
The great elder was also all hair and beard at this time, shouting: "The dead soldiers lead the charge!"
"Go to a higher place and set up the trebuchet. We also have gunpowder bombs!"
Cheng Yaojin was holding a telescope to observe the situation at the mouth of the valley, and suddenly shouted: "Everyone takes a hundred steps back!"
"Brewed! Why do these rebels even have portable trebuchets!"
Did he know that that thing was specially used to throw gunpowder bombs?
It is also extremely light and can be carried by two people after it is disassembled.
Why did the new gadgets that just came out of the army end up in the hands of the rebels?
After hearing Cheng Yaojin's order, everyone began to retreat.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Several gunpowder bombs fell where they had been standing.
Before the soldiers had time to rejoice, the rebels had already begun to charge!
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
There were several more explosions, and a captain reported loudly: "General, there are dead soldiers!"
Cheng Yaojin's face was as dark as water: "You're so stupid! You've underestimated these traitors!"
Seeing that the rebels were about to break out of the siege, Cheng Yaojin gritted his teeth and said: "Open the door to the northeast!"
"Let the Qiang people and other variegated barbarians in front go out and concentrate on intercepting the Linghu clan members!"
Cheng Yaojin came across the desert and had only 3,000 elite troops. Facing more than 10,000 rebels, he was very powerless.
I thought that by surrounding the entrance of the valley, the thieves would lose their vigor, but I didn't expect that these rebels were so brave and fearless of death.
As expected, the various barbarians who were treated as cannon fodder by Linghu Yu broke through a gap and fled to the northeast.
Linghu Yu jumped to his feet angrily: "A bunch of idiots, we are going to the northwest, there is no point in escaping to the east!"
The various barbarians who finally escaped didn't care about this. They broke out of the encirclement and quickly fled into the distance.
Linghu Yu had no choice but to gather the remaining dead soldiers and break out to the northwest.
