Li Siye and Jia Chonghuan strolled along the bank of the Zhenzhu River, and they also let Jia Chonghuan know the reason for yesterday's failure. Although there is a suspicion of hindsight, if you don't educate them deeply after the incident, you will make the same mistake next time.
"Hush!"
Li Siye grabbed the horse's head and stopped by the river.
"Is this where the Tuqishi people sneaked across the river to attack Dondo City?"
"right."
A knight following Li Siye said: "The river is wide and fast, which means there is a drop under the water, but it is not deep. There are only two places along the Zhenzhu River that can be crossed by Dunduo City. If the envoys of Jiacheng were sent in advance
We found and defended these two shallow water areas, and no matter how many people Tu Qishi sent to lure the enemy into attack, they could not step across the south bank of the Zhenzhu River."
These words sounded very harsh to Jia Chonghuan. He turned around and asked the knight who spoke: "Who is your honor? Why have I never seen you before?"
The knight lowered his head and crossed his hands. Li Siye turned around and introduced: "This is Feng Changqing. He is currently serving in our army..." In fact, he never assigned a position to Feng Changqing, but just followed him around.
"This subordinate is General Li's marching commander."
The chief officer in the army is actually a nicer name for a subordinate official. He has no rank, not even a foreigner.
Jia Chonghuan glanced at the ugly lame man, nodded and said: "You are right. In the 27th year of the lunar calendar, when Gai Zhongcheng pacified Tuqi Shi Hei, this was also a grain storage area. At that time, there were many grain crops outside Dunduo City.
There were 60,000 dan of grain stored in the area, and General Li was just a lieutenant. I remember at that time, more than 1,000 people from our Dashi City were stationed to look after the grain and fodder, but no enemy dared to provoke a sneak attack by the river. A similar situation
, and how different it is.”
After he said these words, he dismissed the ugly-looking Feng Changqing and looked at Li Siye.
"Yesterday and today are of course different. Yesterday's allies are today's enemies. The south bank of Dunduo City is the territory of the Huang family. How can you copy your knowledge? A general should be careful and prepared. When going, he will be in battle and when he is staying, he will be careful.
Guard yourself tightly and treat yourself like an enemy when you go out. Okay, let's talk about other things."
Li Siye asked Jia Chonghuan: "What is your only goal right now? It should be how to save your life, right?"
Jia Chonghuan thought a lot. What he wanted to save was not only a life, but also the humiliating defeat last night. A general who has lost a battle will not be promoted for a long time, and some may even be stuck in this life.
. But he can't expect so much. It's good to save his life now.
"right."
"Why don't you write a letter to Zhongcheng and report it quickly? Do you think you can hide it this way? The more you conceal it, the greater your sin will be."
Jia Chonghuan asked him worriedly: "If not, how about asking General Li to write a letter to Zhongcheng on my behalf?"
"How can you let others do this for you? You should bear the responsibility for the mistakes you have made. It is also a good time to test Zhongcheng's attitude towards you."
Jia hurriedly raised his hands and asked: "General Li, how can we test the Zhongcheng's attitude with a report letter?"
"After writing the letter, if the Zhongcheng writes you a letter that denounces you, removes you, and imprisons you on the spot, then you probably won't die. If he ignores you and doesn't reply, then your life or death will be unknown. If the reply is blank or he talks about things left and right.
, then you will undoubtedly die."
After hearing this, Jia Chonghuan was very worried. He didn't dare to write a letter but had to write it. He copied a letter and handed it to the soldiers to deliver it to the Anxi Protectorate. What should he do after sending the letter away? He stayed dryly in this city that was burned to the ground by the fire.
Are you waiting along the Dondo coast? There is no point in staying here anymore.
Li Siye got on his horse and ordered the entire Shule army to retreat to the front line of Dihuaan City. Jia Chonghuan quickly stepped forward and grabbed his horse's head, raised his head and asked eagerly: "What should I do if the general leaves? I will stay here
Here, still..."
Li Siye asked him: "Is there any surplus food in the city?"
"It seems to be more than two thousand stones."
"Since we have surplus food, let's go to Changchun City first. It should be faster for us to go there to accept the orders from the Protectorate."
Jia Chonghuan had no better idea, so he could only follow Li Siye's suggestion and follow him to retreat to Dihuai City. Dunduo City, the imperial forward base of the Tang Army, was finally abandoned.
Three days later, Li Siye led the Shule Army and the Diaohua Battalion to the post station near Diaohua City. All official documents from Qiuci passed through here. They had just settled down when Fumeng Lingcha sent a message from the Anxi Protectorate.
The letter was handed over.
To be precise, this official letter was sent to Li Siye. He opened the envelope and read the contents. Fumeng Lingcha asked him not to go to Dunduo City for the time being, but to lead troops to garrison in Diaochuan City first. It was just that his Zhongcheng had no intention of Li Siye.
The advance estimate was insufficient. In fact, they had already gone around Dundo City and then retreated to this place.
The letter did not mention anything about the burning of grain and grass, but judging from the content of the letter, Fumeng made a change in strategy.
Jia Chonghuan stood beside him, raising his chin and squinting in this direction, wanting to look but not daring to look. The panic on his face showed that he was worried. Li Siye smiled and handed the paper to his hand.
He took it as if he had been burned, hurriedly took it out, shook it in his hand and looked at it, while asking in surprise: "Please tell me, general, what is the sign that you accompanied your husband, Meng Zhongcheng, and didn't mention him even a word?"
?”
"Because this is a letter written to me, and of course I don't mention a word about it."
Jia Chonghuan remained silent.
In the next few days, the Qiuci Army and the Yanqi Army, using the escort camp as a unit, came to the front of the city to gather and garrison. Their horses carried cloth bags filled with food to supplement the invaded.
The food and grass burned by the Qishi people.
This dry Gobi hard rock land became lively. Old acquaintances in the army were like old friends whom they had not seen for many years, greeting each other. The veterans took out the old wine they had accumulated and began to gather together and drink happily.
But most people carefully avoided Jia Chonghuan, probably because they were afraid that the thunder would strike down and take them with them. After all, no sympathy was appropriate at this time.
Li Siye met his acquaintance General Ma Phosphorus. After the two fisted each other and exchanged greetings, he welcomed Ma Phosphorus into his military tent, prepared a glass of wine, and shared the news he had with each other. In fact, it was also a kind of resource sharing.
"The results of the big exam held in the first month of this year have come out."
"Oh," Li Siye held the wine cup and immediately pricked up his ears. After all, this was related to his future, so he had to pay close attention to it.
Ma Li said again: "The test results must be reported to the imperial court first, and then reported to the Protectorate. I have already received the news from the trustee in the Protectorate. You are the highest rated person in our Anxi Protectorate, and you are a good person."
One is the highest in the middle, Lianfu Meng Zhongcheng is in the upper and lower ranks, and Gao Xianzhi is in the upper middle."
"Thank you," Li Siye smiled and cupped his hand.
Ma Li looked at him suspiciously: "You don't seem to be surprised at all."
"Who can say that I am not surprised? But I am frightened and don't show it on the surface."
"Ha!" Ma Li poked him with his finger and said, "The most arrogant people are arrogant in their hearts. Do you think Huangfu Weiming actually wants to give you a job? He is just afraid that you will be jealous of your colleagues and people in the court because you are so showy.
, I reluctantly gave you a top grade. Do you think so in your heart? People like you who think highly of yourself will definitely think so!"
General Ma Phosphorus has not changed at all, and his mouth is still so easy to offend people. Li Siye laughed and said: "I have never thought of it like this, but when you suddenly mentioned it, I think it is possible."
General Ma suddenly put the wine cup on the table and said resentfully: "I will definitely not let you go if I catch you today. Take out all your drinks. Only when you are drunk can I feel better."
Li Siye hugged the wine jar in pain and said, "This is the only jar I have. When I went on the expedition, my wife wouldn't let me take it with me. Now it's all at your advantage."
Ma Phosphorus didn't speak. He stretched out his index finger and bent it downward, pointing at his empty wine cup.
After he finished pouring the wine, he asked Ma Phosphorus curiously: "I wonder which level General Ma is evaluated for?"
"Far from being as good as you, I can only follow in the footsteps of the High Protector."