Chapter five hundred and forty-two walk the ancient road again
After entering the Wusun Ancient Road along the Baima River for about ten miles, a snow-capped mountain blocked their way. The guide smiled at Guo Song and said: "This is Ajitian Mountain, also called Baishan. It is the sacred mountain of Qiuci Kingdom. It was originally on the mountainside.
The above is all snow, which has melted a lot over the years, leaving only the snow on the top of the mountain."
Guo Song nodded. He had a deep memory of this mountain. He pointed with his horsewhip to the forest next to him and said: "I remember that you have to go up the mountain from the side, go through the pine forest, and then go around the ridge of another mountain. You also have to be at the top of the mountain.
Spend the night."
The guide smiled slightly and said: "This was indeed the case before, but it is no longer necessary."
He pointed forward and said, "Did you see the river in front of you? It turns out there isn't one. The flash flood broke out and created a new river channel, and this small river was formed."
Guo Song saw a river two miles away in the distance, which merged into the Baima River flowing from the east. He said happily: "I was worried that the camels would not be able to cross. It would be best to go through the river valley."
The army turned west and walked along the newly emerged river. They soon entered a rocky beach. On the left side of the river, there were rugged rocks. Huge rocks were piled randomly on the river beach. They were originally piled up and blocked together.
, was washed away by an erupting flash flood, while the right side of the river is relatively flat and can be walked on, with towering cliffs on both sides.
The army walked all the way north along the river valley. There was no road ahead, so they had to cross the river to continue walking. The river was very shallow, below the knees, but the water was bone-piercingly cold. At this time, everyone was cautious. There were spies walking at the front, who were most afraid of flash floods.
If a flash flood breaks out, their army will be completely captured here.
They entered the valley from early morning until it got dark. They finally walked out of the valley. There was an open land in front of them, with a large grassland extending from the gentle slope to the mountain. On the mountain was a large pine forest. The soldiers cheered and ran towards the grassland.
When they were leaving, Guo Song turned around and realized that Ajietian Mountain was already behind them. It saved them a full day's journey compared to when they walked over the mountain ten years ago.
Guo Song ordered the whole army to camp and rest on the spot. More than a dozen bonfires were lit, and soldiers were crowded around. They sat on the grass, warming themselves by the fire, drinking water and eating dry food. Soon, the roasted mutton was delivered, and each person shared it.
When he got a piece, he sprinkled it with salt and ate it. His mouth was full of oil, and the soldiers were full of praise.
It was late at night, and there were sentries standing guard all around. The soldiers were all wrapped in blankets and sleeping soundly by the campfire.
Early the next morning, the army simply packed up and then continued to set off towards the north of the valley.
This morning, they walked out of a valley again, and the view in front of them broadened again. There were large alpine pastures with rich grass everywhere. Guo Song saw a sparkling lake from a distance, and Wusun Lake finally arrived.
There are still about 20 households of Wusun herdsmen living here. At this time, the guide brought a gray-haired old herdsman, and Guo Song recognized him at a glance.
"You are Achak!" Guo Song said in surprise.
The old herdsman was stunned for a moment and looked at Guo Song. He slowly remembered, "You are... General Guo from ten years ago."
"That's me!"
Both of them were very happy and hugged each other tightly. Guo Song smiled and said, "I must be over eighty years old!"
The old herdsman laughed and said, "I'm eighty-three. I'm not deaf or blind, but I'm a little hunchbacked. I plan to live to be a hundred years old!"
Everyone laughed, and Guo Song quickly asked him to sit down. The old herdsman Achak smiled and said: "He used to be a little general, but now he has become a big general."
Li Bing said from the side: "My envoy is now the Great Protector of the North Court of Anxi. He just recovered Anxi, and now he is going north to clean up Shatuo."
Acak was startled and stood up and knelt down. Guo Song supported him and forced him to sit down, "We are old friends, so we don't need to be so polite."
Achak said with emotion: "Not long ago, my grandson went to Tingzhou to sell sheep. They were looking forward to the arrival of the Tang Army, and their eyes were filled with anticipation. Now it's great, the Tang Army has finally arrived."
"Old man, how are the Uighur troops outside?"
"Now the Uighur army in Beiting is much smaller than before. I heard that their royal tent moved to the Mobei grassland, and the army also passed by. There are only a few thousand people in Beiting, mainly on the Huangcaobo side. The main ones in Beiting are
They are Shatuo people. If you pass through the valley, you will soon see the Shatuo people's military city at the entrance of the valley."
"How many troops are there?"
"Not many, just about a hundred people. Going along the way, there are many small military forts in Shatuo, but the garrison is very small. There are dozens or more than a hundred people. The original territory of the Uighurs has been given to them."
"Why are the Uighurs so generous?" Li Bing asked puzzledly.
Guo Song smiled and said: "Uihe needs Shatuo to resist the eastward expansion of the Geluolu people. In addition, their power has moved eastward to the Mobei grassland, so the Beiting area will be gradually handed over to the Shatuo people.
"
"The general is right. The Uighurs themselves said that they no longer want to deal with Ge Luolu, so they should go back to the prairie and leave Ge Luolu to the Shatuo people to deal with."
What Achak said was basically what Guo Song expected. When Huihe retreats to Mobei, there will definitely be a war with Sijie over the golden grassland, which will inevitably affect the number of troops stationed in Beiting. The focus of the Shatuo Army is again
There will definitely not be too many troops stationed in the west and north of Hexi and west of Tingzhou.
Thanks to the old man Achak, Guo Song led his army to rest for a night, and then set out at noon the next day. At dusk, they arrived at the exit of Wusun Road and saw the military fort on the mountainside at the exit from a distance. According to the old man Achak,
According to the description, the garrison inside became Shatuo people. The garrison was less than a hundred people, but there was a beacon.
Zhang Yun, the commander of the scouts, came forward and reported: "I can't be sure how many people came forward, but they were divided into teams of about twenty people. The beacon was at the top, and there seemed to be two soldiers on it. We must wipe out all the enemies."
Only the soldiers can climb the beacon tower, or they have to walk on the stone wall. The stone wall is too steep for the brothers to climb up."
Guo Song said angrily: "I am the coach after all, you can't let me play every time!"
"Incompetent and humble!" Zhang Yun looked ashamed.
Guo Song waved his hand, "Forget it, I guess they also learned the lesson from ten years ago. I'll do it if I do it!"
He really regretted it at this time. He shouldn't have let Li Chunlei go, otherwise he wouldn't have had to take action on this matter.
Guo Song turned around and ordered: "order the entire army to camp and rest on the spot!"
He and Zhang Yun arranged a division of labor. He was responsible for destroying the beacon guards, while Zhang Yun led the scouts to climb the castle.
As night fell, Guo Song changed into a gray-white warrior uniform, with a bow and arrows and a black sword on his back, and carried three daggers in his boots. The reason why he changed into a gray-white warrior uniform was because the color of the stone wall was gray-white, and wearing black was too contrasting.
It's too eye-catching and can't be seen if you wear clothes of the same color with the same background, just like the self-protective color of a lizard.
At the first watch, Guo Song used the cover of night to reach the bottom of the cliff. He had climbed it once before and knew that the stone wall here was indeed very steep. Even ordinary experts could not climb it, let alone military scouts.
He took out two fine steel water spikes, jumped up, and accurately inserted them into a thin stone crevice. Another water spike was also inserted into a stone crevice. He stabilized his body and began to climb up in turn.
After climbing for nearly a quarter of an hour, I was about to reach the top of the peak and found the dragon head stone. It was actually a large protruding stone, eight feet long and five feet in diameter, about twenty feet above the ground. It looked very small from the foot of the mountain.
, but actually not small.
The herdsmen all called it the dragon's head stone, but Guo Song felt it was more like the handle of a knife. He jumped towards the dragon's head stone, but a strong wind blew, flying sand and rocks. He almost missed the step, and Guo Song broke out in a cold sweat.
He squatted down to steady his mind and slowly looked down. The beacon was two feet down in front of him. There were dry firewood piled three feet high on the fire pit. Two Shatuo soldiers were lying in the beacon tower next to them.
All of them were holding spears and were sleeping. One of the soldiers was sitting on the wooden board at the entrance of the staircase.
Guo Song took out two daggers from his boots and threw them downwards at the same time. The daggers produced two daggers, "Puff! Puff!" and they instantly hit the eyebrows of the two soldiers. The two soldiers were killed on the spot without even a scream.
.
Guo Song jumped up, leaped down, and landed accurately on the Suitai. With two soldiers on his back, there was no risk in this jump.
Guo Song probed downwards and waved his arms. Below, Zhang Yun faintly saw the commander waving his hand. He gave an order and hundreds of Tang army scouts tied ropes to the battlements and began to climb up quickly.
At this moment, a patrolling soldier suddenly discovered the rope tied to the wall stacks, and he shouted immediately.