More than two hundred miles north of Jian'an City is the boundary of Yuancheng County, Lujiang Prefecture.

As everyone knows, the terrain in the south is flat and flat. If it were not blocked by the natural moat of Tiancang River, it would be difficult for the Southern Zhou Dynasty to block Daliang's cavalry. Although the Gaoyang Plain, the best place for horse breeding in the world, is occupied by Xiwu, Daliang's

Compared with the Southern Zhou Dynasty, the cavalry was still too powerful to resist. Apart from the Tiancang River, there was only one favorable location to the north of Jian'an City, and that was the mountainous area in Yuancheng County.

Between the mountains here, there is a pass called Shimen Pass that connects the north and south official roads. At the pass, two steep peaks rise from the ground and face each other like a giant door pushed open. Therefore, Shimen Pass got its name.

The Shimenguan Canyon is more than 300 meters high, about 100 meters wide, and more than 1,000 meters long. The pass was built sixty years ago. There are 6,000 elite defenders on stand. The ordnance and food are piled up like mountains. The extremely difficult and dangerous terrain makes it easy to defend but difficult to attack.

A model. If you want to go south to attack Jian'an, the capital, Shimen Pass is an important military area that must be captured, otherwise it will be impossible to guarantee your retreat and supplies.

However, according to the estimates of the Military Aircraft Department of the Southern Zhou Dynasty, the Shimen Pass garrisoned by 6,000 elite soldiers was enough to block ten times more enemies, so this pass has always been regarded as the northern gate to guard Jian'an.

Of course, such an important pass would not be guarded by ordinary military officers. The current guard is named Lu Gong, who can be called a strange person in the Southern Zhou army.

Lu Gong's parents died when he was young, and he made a living by begging for wild vegetables and scavenging. When he was nine years old, he moved to Pingjiang Town in the east and was taken in by a kind-hearted family. He soon showed his talent in martial arts and was taken into custody at the age of fourteen.

Xie Xiao's father, the Duke of Zhenguo, was chosen to join the army. From then on, he became unstoppable and became a well-known general in the army more than 20 years later.

There are two things that this person is best at in his life, one is training troops to defend the city, and the other is training and craftsmanship.

He is six years younger than Xie Xiao, and is now 47 years old. The two of them are close friends, and their friendship is no weaker than that of brothers, so he can garrison Shimen Pass because this place is so important.

The afternoon sun shrouded the earth, and on the inner terrace of the General's Mansion, Lu Gong, dressed in short-game equipment, was practicing swordplay.

Although he knew his destiny in his old age, he looked as if he was in his thirties. The muscles on his burly body were bulging, and his swordsmanship was crisp and sharp, without any sense of sloppiness.

After finishing a set of sword skills, Lu Gong took the sweat towel handed by the soldier and wiped the big sweat beads on his face. He looked up at the scorching sun in the sky and said in a deep voice: "Here we are?"

Another soldier replied respectfully: "It's about five or six miles back to the general."

Lu Gong said expressionlessly: "Order two thousand troops and follow me out of the border."

"Follow the order!" the soldier responded as he took the order, and then left in a hurry.

…

On the spacious official road, a team of more than 5,000 people moved forward slowly.

They walked for five days on a journey of more than two hundred miles. This was the result of Pei Yue's repeated urging. Otherwise, according to the schedule of the princess's entourage, they could only travel thirty miles in one day.

Just in front is Shimenguan.

After about half a stick of incense, the majestic and solid pass was already in sight.

At this moment, a burst of passionate drumming was heard from the pass.

Immediately, the door was opened wide, and a general in armor slowly came out with his infantry, forming an array on the flat ground in front of the pass.

General Xia Fei's expression changed slightly. Of course he knew who was guarding the pass here, and he also knew the relationship between Lu Gong and Ping Jiang Fang's family, but he didn't expect that the other party would put up such a formation. He was carrying a certificate awarded by Emperor Qingyuan.

The imperial edict can be passed anywhere in the Great Zhou Dynasty without any obstruction, let alone this Shimen Pass.

"Marquis Zhongshan, please wait a moment. I will go check it out first."

After Xia Fei left these words, he immediately went out with more than a hundred personal guards and rushed towards the army that was in formation in front of the pass.

The entire team was forced to stop. Princess Qinghe's carriage and entourage were at the rear, in the middle were Pei Yue's personal soldiers and the elite cavalry of the Qianbeiwei camp, and at the front were the three thousand Jinwu guards led by Xia Fei.

Deng Zai rode his horse to Pei Yue's side and said softly: "Young Master, it seems that the person coming over there is evil."

Although he is only a commander now, and his focus has long been transferred to Beiwei Camp, everyone knows that he is Pei Yue's most trusted confidant and holds the most secrets of Pei Yue. After more than half a year of experience, Deng Deng is now

He became more calm and restrained, and gradually developed the qualities of a good general on the battlefield.

Pei Yue said calmly: "We are the ones here."

Deng Zaishi smiled and said: "What the young master said is absolutely true, but I don't know if there is a conflict, how will we deal with it?"

A sharp light flashed in Pei Yue's eyes, he shook his head and said: "It's still early, don't worry."

Xia Fei, who was galloping on a horse, obviously couldn't be as calm and calm as he was. He came to the pass with more than a hundred personal guards, looking at Lu Gong with a cold look on his face and the infantry behind him wearing armor and holding swords.

, frowned deeply and asked: "General Lu, what are you doing?"

Lu Gong looked at the group behind him indifferently and said in a deep voice: "Wait for someone."

Xia Fei vaguely realized that something was wrong, and forced a smile on his face: "Who are you waiting for, general?"

Lu Gong said word by word: "The Marquis of Zhongshan in Beiliang."

If we talk about official positions alone, Xia Fei is the General of the Jinwu Guard after all, one level higher than the other party. However, the relationship between Lu Gong and Fang Xiexiao is too close. This is something that any general of the Zhou Dynasty must consider and be afraid of.

Fact. If this were not the case, why would he be so cautious? He would have scolded her sharply.

After much hesitation, Xia Fei said with a complicated expression: "General Lu, this junior is responsible for escorting Her Royal Highness to the north. Did you know?"

Lu Gong thought for a while, lowered his eyes and said: "General Xia, you, Her Royal Highness the Princess and your entourage can clear the customs immediately. Of course, I will not block it, but that Liang man can't."

Xia Fei asked curiously: "Why is this?"

Lu Gong said coldly: "My apprentice died in the hands of that Liang man."

The autumn wind is hunting, and the murderous intention is spreading.

Xia Fei had already guessed the answer, and the expression on his face suddenly became very complicated. As General Jinwu, whom Emperor Qingyuan trusted very much, he knew the situation in the Zhou army very well, and he knew even more about the temperament and details of the middle-aged tiger general in front of him.

.In the eyes of others, the reason why Lu Gong was able to serve as the guard of Shimen Pass was ostensibly because of his brotherly relationship with Xie Xiao, the Duke of Zhenguo, but in fact it was due to his overly tough and cold personality.

Perhaps because he lost his parents when he was young, Lu Gong would never treat others with false words in his life, and his style of conduct was to retaliate, so it was difficult to cultivate strong connections in the military. Fang Xiexiao could only

The important task of guarding Shimen Pass was entrusted to him to prevent conflicts between him and others.

It happened that he only had one disciple in his life, but he died in Pei Yue's hands not long ago.


Chapter completed!