Chapter 5 Tianma Shu

As the night fades, the sky reveals its beautiful blue face, and white clouds like snow wander between the sky and the earth.

The morning breeze in late autumn caresses the vast land with a strong coolness. The Tianma River is like a light and bright jade silk, crossing the boundless Gobi, closely connecting the snow-capped mountains and the desert. Populus euphratica and Xihe willows attach to both sides of the river, like two burning flames, or like the magnificent brilliance tattooed on both sides of the jade silk, blooming with dazzling brilliance, decorating this vigorous land with beautiful vitality.

The big star dances wildly in the air. The golden word "Sui" is reflected by the roaring and rolling scarlet flags and red and yellow swallowtail hanging tassels, like a dragon soaring in the sky, or a roaring tiger, with a magnificent momentum.

Tianma Shu was silent. The wolf smoke on the four-corner beacon tower had been extinguished, and a few wisps of faint blue smoke rose up and passed away with the wind. The few crisp camel bells and low horse neighing from the inside of the garrison proved that there was still life here. Suddenly, a big black wolf dog jumped up from the daughter wall of the North Crossbow Platform, shot onto the wall like an arrow, and then barked violently at the endless Gobi Desert.

A red hood slowly rose from behind the wall, then a nervous young man's face appeared, and a pair of spiritual eyes were alert to the desert outside the guard. The ferocious black wolf dog jumped to the wall of his daughter outside the pile, barking at the empty Gobi.

The boy became more and more nervous. He hid back behind the wall, picked up a big horn, held it high towards the sky, and blew hard, "Woooooooooooo..." After a few breaths, his face was red and his ears were red, and his raised eyes seemed to be about to pop out of his eyes.

Suddenly, people shouted and neighed in the garrison, burst into chaotic screams, followed by agile figures either rushed towards the city wall or climbed the soft ladder into the crossbow platform. Some people were like monkeys, stepping up to the top along the five-meter-high wooden pillars and climbing up to the top to look up.

A strong man like an iron tower held a horizontal knife in his left hand and a battle axe in his right hand. He walked to the boy with big strides, his thick black eyebrows tightly frowned, and his murderous eyes quickly scanned the desert outside the guard, then looked down at the boy and asked sternly, "Fang Xiaoer, where is Achaelu? Do you dare to blow your horns randomly?"

Fang Xiaoer seemed a little afraid of this person and took a step back timidly. Just as she was about to speak, a strong smell of blood came to her face. The pungent smell made him extremely disgusting and even felt a strong sense of vomiting. Fang Xiaoer took two steps back and opened the distance between herself and the tower man, and no longer dared to look at the other person.

The man in the Iron Tower did not wear heavy armor or light armor. He was wearing yellow military uniforms, but he was covered in blood. Even his thick beard was covered with blood. With his pair of murderous eyes, he was like a demon king who came out of hell, which was daunting.

"Jiangduhou..." A cold voice sounded behind the man from the Iron Tower, followed by a big hand on Fang Xiaoer's shoulder and patted it gently, as if it was approving and encouraging.

Fang Xiaoer looked grateful and bowed, "The Lord of the Shou..."

"He is still a child, don't scare him." A long-bearded man in his thirties said with a cold expression. "Today we have a fierce battle. Let the brothers hurry up and eat some dry food, fill their stomachs, and prepare to fight."

"He is still a child?" Jiang Duhou sneered, "Buyi, don't forget that he is a thief from Hebei. He robbed the house, burned, killed, and killed innocent people at a young age. Is this a child?"

"I'm not a thief, I'm a hero who robs the rich and helps the poor, and is a hero who is chivalrous and righteous." Fang Xiaoer blushed and shouted excitedly, "One day I will go home, I will go back to Gaojipo and Douzigang again. I will kill all the dog officials and all the evil people who are accomplices of the tiger. I will avenge my parents."

Fang Xiaoer's scream immediately attracted the attention of others. Four or five men in military uniform rushed over with swords and guns. A thin middle-aged man pulled Fang Xiaoer over and hid him behind him. He glared at Bu Yi and Jiangdu Hou and said coldly, "Master of the garrison, Deputy of the garrison, we are all thieves who are assigned to guard the border. We are Hebei thieves who do everything evil." His tone gradually slowed down and aggravated, and his threat was self-evident.

Jiang Duhou looked at the thin man with contempt, his eyes arrogantly swept across everyone's faces, and he curled his lips disdainfully, "Gao Tai, are you planning to rebel in the face of the battle?" Before he finished speaking, the battle axe with his right hand roared up sharply, and a thunder roar broke out from his mouth, "You dare to rebel?"

A horizontal knife came in the air. "Dang", the swords and axes hit each other, and sparks shot everywhere. The battle axe stopped in the air, but the battle axe could not resist and collided back. The young man holding the knife in both hands took three steps in a row, and then he turned away the powerful force on the battle axe.

Gao Tai was furious, and his hand holding the hilt trembled slightly, and an explosion was about to break out.

The young man who blocked an axe for him shouted anxiously, "Brother, this is the Western Regions, not Hebei."

Gao Tai's face turned pale and his eyes were like a beast trapped in a cage, ferocious and ferocious.

Jiang Duhou sneered, took back the battle axe, stared at Gao Tai with both eyes, and said word by word, "You are a thief, a thief who is full of conscience."

"Okay, even if they are thieves, they are also thieves of my Great Sui Dynasty. Moreover, they are not thieves now, but the garrisons of my Western frontier of the Great Sui Dynasty, and the beacons of my Tianma Shou." Buyi stood with his hands behind his back, persuaded Jiangdu Hou for a few words, and then turned his eyes to Gao Tai and others, "What Ximen Chen said just now is right. This is the Western Regions, not Hebei. There are no corrupt officials who are angry with each other, nor are there bullies who bully the weak. There are only vicious barbarians here. If we want to survive, we have to kill the barbarians and fight for their lives."

Buyi walked to the edge of the wall, looked ahead, and continued, "There are only people of the Great Sui people, guards, thieves, and all of them are of the Great Sui people, all of them are brothers of blood. Brothers work together, and their strength is to cut off gold." Buyi turned around and looked at Jiangduhou, and his tone gradually became heavier, "Your parents and brothers died at the hands of thieves, so you hate the thieves in the world and wish you could kill all the thieves in the world to avenge your relatives, but this is the Western Regions, not your hometown Hexi, and they are not Hexi thieves. I ask you to put aside your resentment and treat them as your life and death brothers."

Buyi slowly turned around, looked at everyone, and said solemnly, "Today we have a fierce battle. If we want to live and die with Shuluo, we will all die. We are from the Great Sui Dynasty and brothers of blood. We do not seek to be born on the same day, but we only seek to die on the same day!"

Gao Tai lowered his head, gritted his teeth, and said nothing.

"Zhi Mom..." Jiang Duhou cursed angrily, turned around and left.

Ximen hesitated for a moment, exchanged glances with the brothers around him, and then bowed and sang promises together.

Gao Tai took two steps back, bowed slightly, then pulled Fang Xiaoer and walked towards the crossbow platform with everyone. Several Hebei soldiers in the crossbow platform were coming quickly. Obviously, the dispute here alarmed them and they planned to come over to help the boxing.

At this time, four men in armor hurried over, two of them were still wounded. Seeing Gao Tai and the others gathered together and talking in a low voice, their eyes were full of contempt.

"Master of the garrison, although these Hebei thieves are strong, they are all rebellious. I'm worried..."

Before a short-bearded man with an arm was finished speaking, Buyi raised his hand to stop him, "At the moment, don't doubt people, don't doubt people."

Four men in armor looked at each other speechlessly.

Buyi faced the west, looking at the distant end of the sky, frowned deeply and was filled with worries.

Since the Great Sui Dynasty conquered Tuyuhun, it took all its land, established the West Sea, Jiyuan, and Shanshan, and the four counties in the Qie period, the imperial court has issued an order to exil to the world and prisoners to guard the border. In the past two years, most of the bandits in Hebei, Henan and Shandong were particularly popular.

Tianma Shu has six beacon towers under its jurisdiction, guarding the border of 200 miles. According to the organization, each garrison is 50 people, and each beacon tower is equipped with one beacon soldiers and five beacon sons. However, the actual situation is that Tianma Shu only has the chief, deputy garrison master and six beacon soldiers who are guards of Yingyang Mansion, and the rest are all assigned prisoners. The power of guarding the border is too weak, so Yingyang Mansion has no choice but to order the prisoners to beacon sons.

The Western Regions are vast and sparsely populated, and the environment is harsh. There are also many prisoners. If the prisoners flee without authorization, most of them will die, so there are not many escapees, but there are more than 30 deaths due to fighting, illness, etc. There are more than 30 prisoners in Tianma Shu and turned into beacons, but only twelve are left. Ximen Chen is one of the survivors. Gao Tai, Fang Xiaoer and others are the serious criminals in Hebei who just arrived in Tianma Shu two months ago. There were 17 serious criminals, all of whom were rebels. They were shackles the day before yesterday, but yesterday they had to temporarily requisition because of the invasion of the Achaei.

This group of rebels are brave and brave, and are good at fighting. It is precisely because of the strong combat effectiveness of this "shock soldier" that Tianma Shu has been tenaciously holding on for a day, but the losses are heavy. Four Fengzi and five Hebei prisoners were killed in battle, and eight were seriously injured and lost their combat effectiveness. There are less than twenty people who can continue to fight today.

"The garrison master, there are sixteen guards in the three caravans stranded in the garrison, more than twenty young and strong, most of them are Lite, Khotan and Tocharis, as well as several Indians, the Great Cannibal and the Great Qin people." A short and strong armored garrison soldier suggested, "At the moment of life and death today, they should also go to the battlefield to kill the enemy."

"Once the Shulien falls, those Achae who is red-eyed and killed will not let them go." Another injured garrison soldier supports this suggestion, "The garrison master should tell them that if they are lucky and wait for death, it is better to give it a try and survive in death."

The Buyi nodded slightly and was about to speak when he heard the horn sound coming from the air.

Everyone looked up at the five-meter-high lookout whistle.

A black wolf-headed signal flag came into everyone's eyes.

Bu Yi's heartbeat suddenly accelerated, and he turned his head to look towards the western sky.

Jiang Duhou's excited roar resounded throughout the Shuluo, "Garan is here, Galan is here..."

=

As soon as the sky was dawn, the Tuyuhun people blew the big horn, and the camp that had been sleeping all night suddenly woke up, camels and horses neighed, and the people were roaring.

Jiang Yuangong Mu Kui smiled, shook his bare head, walked slowly among the soldiers, greeted them affectionately, and sometimes chatted with them easily. The old man in his fifties looked very kind, not arrogant, nor arrogant. The soldiers saw him saluting, and then did whatever they should do. Some packed tents, some fed camels and horses, and some sat together in groups of three or three to eat cakes and drink milk.

Mu Kui carefully patrolled everything, from camel horses to weapons, without missing a single one.

Today he must take down Tianma Shu.

Fu Yun Khan made it clear that Qiemo City was tall and strong, and the Great Sui people had heavy troops to control the garrison. With the strength of Tuyuhun today, they could not attack strongly, so they could only take over the garrison. The so-called smart attack means siege without attacking, and first take down all the outer areas of Qiemo City, firmly control the Silk Road, and the capture of Tianma Shu was the key to this strategy.

Taking over Tianma Shu is actually equivalent to controlling the southern Silk Road of the Western Regions. If the countries in the east and west of the Pamir Mountains want to maintain contact with the East and ensure the smooth flow of the Silk Road, they must establish an alliance with Tuyuhun as before. Once the alliance is rebuilt, Tuyuhun can purchase food and weapons from the nine kingdoms of Khotan, Tocharo, and Zhaowu, and the money used for purchase comes from the Silk Road commercial tax, so Tuyuhun can start a difficult road to restore the country.

The Sui people could use their powerful strength to capture the territory of Tuyuhun, but they could not conquer Tuyuhun's heart. They could not only kill Tuyuhun's people, but also destroy the tenacious will of Tuyuhun people to restore the country. As long as the Tuyuhun people remained breath, they would definitely fight endlessly.

The sound of big horns came faintly in the wind, and the Sui people in Tianma Shu had already begun to prepare for the battle.

Mu Kui looked up at the Tianma River. The mist was swaying on the river, the poplars on both sides were beautiful and beautiful, and the scenery was picturesque. This is the territory of Tuyuhun, the land on which I Tuyuhun relies for survival. Whether now or in the future, Tuyuhun people will never allow others to occupy their own territory and plunder their own land.

Mu Kui's blood boiled, and his heroic spirit was dry.

Before leaving, Fu Yun Khan repeatedly instructed that the Tianma Shu must be taken down as quickly as possible, and the benefits of the Silk Road were used to obtain money and supplies to support the army and maintain the siege of Qiemo City. At this time, winter is already very close. When winter comes, it will be inconvenient for the Hexi Sui army to move south and rescue will be delayed. According to reliable information, the battle between the Western Turkic Khan and Tielmohe Khan is becoming more and more intense, which has seriously threatened the safety of Yiwu and Shanshan. This has caused the Sui army in Hexi to dare to go south to rescue Qiemo easily. Therefore, the next few months are very critical. As long as the Tuyuhun people persist until next spring, the Sui people who guard Qiemo who are isolated and have no help, and the food and grass will not be maintained, and they will have to break through and evacuate. By then, it will be the time for the Tuyuhun people to avenge.

It was bright and the fiery red morning glow dyed the sky red. The drums and horns spread across the sky, and Tuyuhun boarded his horses and gathered in an array.

At this moment, a fast horse roared in the wind and came whistling.

"Jiangyuangong, a team of Sui troops coming quickly along the Tianma River to the west." The scout gasped and reported loudly.

Mu Kui was a little surprised, "How many people?"

"Hundreds of camels and dozens of horses, no less than fifty people."

Mu Kui twisted his sparse short beard under his jaw and focused his mind. To the west is Tulun River, the Sea of ​​Death. Generally, there will be no one else in the world except sand thieves and caravans that secretly cross the border. The Sui army also set up a beavan there. How many people can there be? Could it be a caravan that secretly cross the border?

The two centurions standing beside him looked at each other, and one of them asked, "Are you sure you are from the Great Sui Dynasty? Are you reading it wrong?"

"I saw the Great Sui Battle Banner." The scout replied with great certainty.

"Maybe it was the garrison of the Tulunchuan beacon tower." Another centurion said, "The caravan secretly crossed the border from Tulunchuan and must get the help of the garrison troops here. Only in this way can the caravan get the pass certificate, otherwise they will not be able to go north."

Mu Kui frowned, feeling something was strange.

According to common sense, Qiemo City was besieged, and Yingyang Mansion ordered the garrison troops from all over the country to return to the rescue. At this time, the main force of Tianma Shu had already left. It was based on this judgment that he set up an ambush on the way and planned to ambush the main force of Tianma Shu. It would be decided by a battle. Who knew that he would not wait for a long time, so he had to change his plan and attack Tianma Shu at any cost. However, another incident occurred, and a small group of Sui army emerged from the direction of Tulunchuan.

"Mr. Jiang Yuan, give me fifty horses and I will definitely sweep them all." A centurion said with great enthusiasm.

"Mr. Jiang Yuan, I'll go, just thirty horses." Another centurion hurriedly asked for a fight. This is an opportunity to make a fortune and should not be missed.

Mu Kui shook his hand decisively, "Don't be rash. Send orders, rush to the battlefield, and line up to fight."

=

The camel bells were melodious and the horses were strolling. Jialan led the caravan to slowly approach Tianmashu.

Everyone in the caravan rode on camels and all the horses were released to maintain the strength of the horses.

Scar walked in the front of the team, and the battle flag inserted in the rattan basket fluttered in the wind. Blizzard lay on Scar's back, holding his huge head, listening to the sound of the battle flag, and looking forward with bright eyes.

Between the sky, under the rising sun, a wolf smoke rose into the sky.

The Tianma Shu conveys the letter, and the garrison is strong.

Galan smiled, slowly raised his right hand and waved it three times.

Shi Yu took out his horn and blew it with all his strength.

The camel fleet arranged in a row accelerated while rapidly changing into a formation. In a blink of an eye, the camel fleet turned into six rows, and the war horses were sandwiched in the middle of the queue.

=

Tianma Shu gradually appeared in everyone's eyes, and the battle formation of Tuyuhun people became more eye-catching. The flags and flags were shaking, the drums and horns were connected to the sky, and the attack had already formed.

Li Teren looked nervous and frightened. On weekdays, they could fight with small groups of thieves at most, and killing thieves and fighting are completely different things. This time, they not only had to fight head-on with the Tuyuhun army, but also were at an extreme disadvantage. The fear in their hearts can be imagined.

The two sides are getting closer and closer, and the Tuyuhun people are clamoring together and are about to launch an attack.

Shi Penglai's face was pale and urged the camel to catch up with Jialan and shouted, "A Chailu is going to attack, hurry up and set up the formation."

Galan smiled at him, "There is no fear."

The two sides were five hundred steps away, and the camel caravan was still moving forward, so they were not afraid of it.
To be continued...