The Huanghe River flows to the southeast, with green grass in the valley and high hills on both sides.
Without the nourishment of Huangshui River, the hills are very dry, barren of grass, and appear reddish-brown, which contrasts sharply with the green of the valley.
As the wooden wheeled cart passed by the river, it would bump violently every time it encountered a ravine or a stone, causing the gold on the cart's board to ache all over.
It wasn't because Tang Jun was so kind that he arranged a wooden cart for him, but Yan Yunyun stabbed him twice in the leg during the few days he captured him. Zhenjin was so painful and felt that she was inexplicable. He could still escape alone.
Where to.
Being taken to Gansu in this way at this time made the prisoners feel that they had no end in sight.
He was not worried about himself, thinking that Li Xia would not kill him either out of etiquette or for state affairs, and would most likely use him as a trade or imprison him.
Looking back on this journey, I thought that if my father heard about how the errand was done, he would be furious. Therefore, I was secretly glad that I was captured like this and didn't have to go back to face it.
Finally, the terrain ahead became wider and the road gradually became smoother. It was almost time to reach the Hexi Corridor.
A small group of people joined the group head-on. Zhenjin soon noticed a middle-aged man appearing next to Yan Yunyun. Others called him Mr. Han. Occasionally, he could hear Yan Yunyun calling his name.
It is easy to tell that Han Wufei is Yan Yunyun's husband. Judging from his name, he must be a very powerful person. He is probably a descendant of Han Chengxu, Li Xia's minister, and has an extraordinary status.
Zhenjin glanced at Yan Yunyun again, and saw that she had said a few words to Han Wufei, held her forehead and closed her eyes, swayed her body, and then passed out.
It seemed that she had been holding on for a while, and now that she had met someone she could trust, she finally let go.
Zhenjin thought that even a cruel woman like her would show her weak side in front of men.
He just watched the couple like this, guessing about their relationship, and he didn't know why.
The team walked for another two days and arrived at a small town called Shangchuan Town.
This is an arid area in the central part of Gansu Province, surrounded by a desolate Gobi desert. Only some earthen houses made of loess remain in the town.
And just to the west of the town, there is Shoulu Mountain, which extends to the east of Qilian Mountain.
There were not many troops escorting the real gold, only Li Bing's more than 300 men. They did not enter the town, but camped outside the town.
Soldiers flew over from the front and reported to Li Bing: "There is a war ahead..."
~~
"Your Majesty, urgent report from Liangzhou. The Han Great Wall defense line north of Gulang County has encountered another Yuan army attack."
In Qingtongxia, Li Xia, who was on his way to Xingqing Mansion, was slightly shocked when he received the news, and then asked: "Did Dong Wenbing leave and come back?"
"Yes, the Yuan army should be hiding in an oasis in the desert. When His Majesty moves to Xingqing, he will attack Liangzhou again."
"They can't sneak attack Liangzhou."
Li Xia took the letter and seemed to have already made a rough judgment about the matter.
"Dong Wenbing brought neither siege machinery nor enough money and food. After a battle with me on the desert side, he even lost his spare horses. To bring back such an extremely tired army and horses, only
It could be for real gold, but...is it worth it?"
The messenger who came quickly to report the news could not answer such a question and stood there silently, waiting for Li Xia's order.
However, Li Xia did not send any more troops to support Liangzhou. Instead, he recruited several generals and ordered: "Arrange your horse to go back quickly and tell the Gansu generals to continue to strengthen the walls and clear the country, and never allow the Yuan army to attack any walled city."
"yes."
Li Xia thought for a while and then asked, "Has there been any new news from Yang Ben?"
"not yet."
"In other words, after Tachaer's reinforcements arrived, Yang Ben had not withdrawn from the vicinity of Blackwater City. He should have wanted to continue to ambush Dong Wenbing... But no one expected that Dong Wenbing would dare to lead the remaining army back."
Li Xia made several marks on the map.
The current situation is that Tachaer's 50,000 reinforcements forced him to mobilize troops from Gansu to Ningxia, giving Dong Wenbing a gap to continue rescuing Zhenjin.
Of course, since the Yuan army was willing to increase their troops, their efforts would naturally be rewarded. This was achieved with their huge military strength.
Li Xia didn't think that with his small force, he could really restrain every Yuan army, as long as he could control the overall situation.
Soon, his eyes had moved away from Ningxia and Gansu on the map, and he murmured something to himself at the same time.
"Brother Dong, Brother Dong, is it really worth it?"
~~
"Well……"
Blood flowed from the neck of a Tang military commander, the life left in his eyes, and his body immediately collapsed.
Dong Shiyuan pushed the body away, stood up with difficulty, and raised the knife in his hand.
He also suffered a lot of injuries, but he finally killed the opposing general at the first opportunity of the encounter.
"Wonderful victory! Wonderful victory!"
The morale of the Yuan army was greatly boosted, and they quickly defeated the small Tang army in front of them.
Although Dong Shiyuan led more than a thousand men, and the Tang army guarding this section of beacons had less than 300 men, this victory still seemed extremely difficult.
Because they were too tired, this Yuan army had been marching continuously in the desert for more than half a month.
For more than half a month, the injured soldiers could not receive medical treatment and could only wait to die in the scorching desert under the scorching sun.
Their food has long been exhausted and there is no water source. They can only survive by drinking horse blood and eating raw horse meat.
But in fact, they even lacked horses. When they retreated to Li Xia, the Tang army had already taken away a large number of horses. Many horses died of thirst while marching in the desert.
Dong Wenbing brought more than 10,000 people south, but now there are only more than 5,000 people left.
He and Li Xia fought fiercely for three days, and only more than a thousand people died on the battlefield. The others all fell down during the march.
More than three thousand people did not die on the battlefield, but were led back and forth in the desert, and they lost their lives without knowing why.
When it was discovered that Li Xia had led his troops to Xingqing Mansion, Dong Wenbing's more than 5,000 men were divided into three groups. The eldest son Dong Shiyuan and the second son Dong Shixuan each led more than 1,000 men into the Hexi Corridor to search for news about King Yan.
Dong Shiyuan is thirty years old this year. He and Dong Wenwei accompanied Meng Ge on his southern expedition. Dong Wenwei was injured in the battle of Diaoyu City. At that time, Dong Shiyuan's uncle attacked the city and once stormed the top of Diaoyu City.
At that time, when Li Xia entered Diaoyu City to aid, the generals of the Song and Mongolian armies talked about the war and cited Dong Shiyuan's performance in this battle to describe the intensity of the war.
This is a strong player that even Brother Meng personally praised.
But the fierce general Dong Shiyuan looked very haggard this time. After walking in the desert this time, his hair was unkempt and his face quickly lost weight.
He originally had two good horses, but they were both lost, so he had to find an ordinary horse to replace them.
The injuries on his body could not be treated effectively. After entering the Hexi Corridor, he immediately planned to cross the Tang Dynasty to Hehuang.
Fortunately, Changshengtian did not let down his loyalty. A detective horse came running wildly and reported: "General, the second general has found King Yan!"
~~
Yan Yunyun faintly heard fierce killing cries around him in the darkness.
She thought it was a nightmare, but suddenly the back of her head hurt.
When she opened her eyes, she still felt dizzy. She turned her head and looked around, and was surprised to find that she was no longer in Shangchuan Town, but in a mountain valley. It should be Lushou Mountain.
"It's nothing more than...what's wrong?"
"Mr. Yan is awake!"
In the chaos, some soldiers hurriedly shouted: "Xianggong Yan is awake, and Li Xiaoyou is still treating his wounds."
Yan Yunyun couldn't help but be shocked when he saw Li Bing over there.
The young general's face was covered with blood. A closer look revealed that the socket of his right eye was empty, and a military doctor was treating his injury.
The cloth with ointment was wrapped around Li Bing's eyes.
"ah!"
Li Bing screamed and fainted from the pain.
Yan Yunyun looked down the mountain at this time and saw smoke and dust billowing, and there were many cavalrymen running northward in the distance.
She was still wondering what was going on, but Li Bing had woken up from a coma and said: "Mr. Han... took the real gold to lure away the pursuers..."
"What?" Yan Yunyun was so shocked and angry that he almost fell to the ground, "Is the real gold lost?"
"I heard that there was a Yuan army ahead, and I wanted to retreat. Unexpectedly, the Yuan army caught up with me, and there were more than 2,000 people... Mr. Han persuaded me to leave the real gold, but I refused. Then he took advantage of my injury.
, he took the people away and led the Yuan army over there..."
Yan Yunyun fought hard to capture the real gold, but unexpectedly, he taught his husband to let it go like this. He felt angry and dizzy.
While stroking her forehead, she saw the soldiers around her again. She saw that they were all wounded, and their eyes were full of pain from their injuries.
These people were ordered to protect her when she went to Xining when she was in Lanzhou, and they continued to fight in Hehuang for more than two months. Now there are only a hundred people left.
Yan Yunyun's anger gradually subsided. She knelt down and looked at Li Bing's half eye.
"Li Xiaoyong has tried his best. He will recover from his injuries and be promoted when he returns. As for today's events, I will be responsible for them..."
~~
At the same time, the two Yuan armies were converging and running towards the desert to the north.
After a lot of hard work, they finally captured King Yan, and they couldn't help but cheer.
On the contrary, Dong Shixuan had a sullen face and didn't feel there was anything to be happy about.
He was holding the reins with one hand and covering his lower abdomen with the other.
Blood was gurgling from between his fingers.
It was after the thunderbolt cannon of the Tang army exploded that an iron piece pierced his armor and penetrated his abdomen.
These are the prices that have been paid to save King Yan.
Looking up at the long yellow sand ahead, Dong Shixuan didn't know how much price he would have to pay to bring King Yan back safely...