It seems that Jing Zhencheng does not know that these caves are connected internally, merge into the depths of the earth's veins, and eventually lead to Longju Island.
Jiang Shuo was naturally inconvenient to explain to him. He wanted to go to Yinglong City on Longju Island and see the situation in the grain cellar before making a decision.
With the help of Jiang Shuo and Dugu Xiang's oars, their small boat arrived at Longju Island much faster than other boats. This was the second time they landed on Longju Island in two days.
I saw that the scene on Longju Island had changed again. There were many soldiers of the Tang Dynasty going back and forth on the island. They were cleaning up the ruins and carrying corpses. It was very lively.
It turned out that Tang troops had already landed on the island, and Jing Zhencheng and the others were the second batch. The person commanding these Tang troops was Zhang Shouyu. Zhang Shouyu was surprised to see Jiang Shuo land on the island with Jing Zhencheng, and asked: "Young Master Jiang, why did you suddenly leave and then suddenly come back? Where did you go?" Jing Zhencheng was the first to say: "General Zhang, why did Young Master Jiang leave suddenly? It turned out to be all the good deeds of the thief Abu Si." He told Zhang Shouyu about Abu Si's attempt to kill Jiang Shuo in a night attack, and Jiang Shuo I thought that Jing Zhencheng’s Chinese had improved rapidly in recent years. In order to trace the whereabouts of his grandpa, he still spoke very poorly in Chinese after more than ten years in the Tang Dynasty. However, since the incident between his grandpa and the envoy sent to the Tang Dynasty came to light, he had not seen him for several years. However, Jing Zhencheng's Chinese has improved by leaps and bounds, and he is almost the same as a Han Chinese. It seems that a person's state of mind determines many things.
Zhang Shouyu was also quite angry after hearing this. He was born in a military family, and his speech was much vulgar. After hearing this, he kept yelling and cursing. It turned out that most of the generals of the Western Army did not like Arbus.
Abusi was originally the leader of the Tiele Tongluo tribe with the nine surnames. He belonged to the Later Turkic Khanate and was the left guardian of Usumish Khan. His status in the Turks was second only to the Khan.
However, Wang Zhongsi united with Basimi, Huihe and Geluolu to attack and kill Usumish Khan. Absi had no choice but to lead his troops to defect to the Tang Dynasty. The saint of the Tang Emperor named him the King of Faith and gave him the name Li Xianzhong. He placed his troops in the land of Shuofang.
However, since Abusi was a surrendered general, Wang Zhongsi naturally did not like to use him. Moreover, Abusi's surrender to the Tang Dynasty could be said to be all because of the rise of the Turks after Wang Zhongsi's death. Wang Zhongsi was afraid that he would have a grudge against him, and he did not dare to use him. Therefore, at the beginning, When he surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, Abu Si was very frustrated.
But suddenly he encountered Wang Zhongsi who was demoted due to greed, and Ge Shuhan took over as the Jiedushi of the Second Town. Geshuhan was also a Turk, and he relied heavily on himself, a fellow Turk. Otherwise, Abusi's troops were under Shuofang, and it would be enough for Geshuhan to control the troops in Longyou and Hexi. Why would he need to mobilize Abusi to help in the battle?
But precisely because of this, the generals in Hexi and Longyou naturally disliked Abu Si. It’s not that they looked down on the Turks, but that in their eyes Geshuhan was promoted through military service and everyone was convinced, while Abu Si relied on Because of his official rank when he surrendered and the support of the Turkic brother Shuhan, the generals of the two towns were very unconvinced.
The whole story is not known to outsiders, and it is not known to Jiang Shuo. Jing Zhencheng and Zhang Shouyu sang together and cursed Absi, but Dugu Xiang kept winking at Jiang Shuo. The two of them were most concerned about Duan Jianwei now. Is he still in the water cellar?
What's the situation at the cave entrance now? Jiang Shuo finally became impatient with Jing and Zhang's chatter. He crossed his hands and said, "General Zhang, how is the situation in Yinglong City? Can we go and take a look?" Zhang Shouyu didn't know that Jiang Shuo had already boarded the Dragon City. Komashima, he couldn't help but wonder: "Yinglong City has been completely burned down... The Tubo people are so cruel, not a single person left alive..." Duguxiang asked: "How did you know it was the Tubo people who did it? Find the enemy "Is there the body of the army?" Zhang Shouyu said: "I didn't find the body, but who else could it be besides the Tubo people? It couldn't have been done by Absi, right?" At this point, he and Jing Zhencheng looked at each other and laughed. , they hoped that this was done by Absi, but they did not dare to frame Zhang Shouyu in such a big way, they could only joke.
Zhang Shouyu continued: "However, the Tubo battlefield was really clean this time, and not a single body was left behind. It is said that they landed on the island in the middle of the night for a sneak attack, and the fire broke out at midnight. The time was quite tight, and the bodies were piled on top of each other. , It is very laborious to find all the corpses of the soldiers who died in the battle. The Tibetan people were not so careful in cleaning the battlefield before. This time, apart from the corpses, not even a single sword, spear or instrument was left behind." The two Shuoxiang naturally knew this. What's the reason for this? But they don't want to reveal the hidden alliance. Dugu Xiang just said vaguely: "Yes, yes... I'm afraid those who attacked Longju Island were Tibetan elites, so they took all the corpses away..." Zhang Shouyu had a good idea. The Tubo army that landed on the island might be similar to the Tang army's Beifu soldiers. They were all children of noble families. Therefore, not only their lives were valuable, but even their bodies after death were more valuable than those of ordinary military families. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but sigh. Take a bite.
I just don’t know if it’s the spitting Tubo people or the Tang military system. Suddenly a soldier came to report: "General Zhang, the enemy's body has been found!" Everyone was shocked when they heard it. Zhang Shouyu said: "Take me to see it quickly." The sergeant led the way into Yinglong City. , I saw that Tang’s soldiers had moved all the corpses out of the city and began to clean up the collapsed houses. However, the progress was extremely slow, and the air was still filled with a strong smell of corpses that could not be dissipated for a while.
The sergeant led everyone to the deep pit-like grain cellars. Both Jiang Shuo and Dugu Xiang felt something was wrong. When they looked at each other, Jiang Shuo quietly pressed down with his hand, signaling Dugu Xiang to be quiet for now.
I saw that the Tang army was cleaning up the embers of burned grains in several pits. The grains were pressed together and the fire could not completely burn them. After cleaning up the thick layer of ashes, there was still a lot of edible grains underneath. This is also One of the reasons why the Tang army was eager to go to the island.
After capturing Shibao City, the Tang army obtained the food stored by Tubo. Although the urgent need was relieved, the Tubo defenders only had a few thousand people. The Tang army plus civilians were no less than 100,000. This was enough food for the Tubo army for several years, but it was not enough for the Tang army. Eat for a month.
Although they won a great victory, the troops recruited from Shuofang and other places and some civilians who transported food can go back, but there are still not a few troops left to garrison such a vast area, so the food problem is still very urgent.
Only then did he think of coming to Longju Island to look for unburnt food and grass. The other purpose was of course to bury the bodies of the Tang soldiers who died tragically. Previously, when the two armies were facing each other, they had no time to take care of it. Of course, they couldn't let Baoze do it at this time. Exposed to the wilderness.
What's strange is that one of all the grain cellars should be empty. There is a hole under the grain cellar on the side, which is the secret cave used by the Tang army as a water storage cellar.
At this moment, all the grain cellars are filled with embers and ruins. Where are the empty pits? The sergeant took Zhang Shouyu to a pit. Shuo and Xiang could clearly see that it was the deep pit where the secret cave was hidden. When they looked carefully, the things in the pit were all burned-down roof pillars, beams, and broken bricks. The rotten tiles and other objects were not food, and someone had obviously pushed them down intentionally.
The sergeant pointed at a corpse on the ground and said: "That's the man. We dug this man out of the pit on the side. Judging from his clothes, he is definitely not from the Central Plains, nor is he the color of the Tang army. This person is definitely not from the Central Plains." There were no external injuries or signs of burning on the man's body. It seemed that the house beside the pit collapsed, causing him to vomit blood and buried him in the pit. The fallen wooden frame should still be burning at that time. The attacker may not have The body was discovered, or the body could not be dragged out after it was discovered, so we left the body in the pit and dug it out when we were clearing the ruins." Zhang Shouyu looked at it and sneered: "Jing Lang, this can't be... Your brother, right?" Jing Zhencheng came up to take a look and laughed and scolded: "Go, go, go... Do you think that all the dwarfs in the world are from Japan? You want me to say that this is your son Zhang Shouyu." Zhang Shouyu said : "My son doesn't have such a beard..." I saw that the corpse was wearing a gray robe, and the beard was already gray. The blood spit out from the mouth was sprayed everywhere on the beard and robe. No wonder the Tang Army sergeant said that he was collapsed. The house was smashed to death. It is indeed difficult to distinguish between internal injuries and vomiting blood due to being smashed.
This man's clothes are not strange, but the strangest thing is his height. He seems to be a little shorter than Jing Zhencheng. Zhang Shouyu is still teasing Jing Zhencheng: "Jing Lang, lie down quickly and see who of the two of you is shorter." , so that I can arrange a seat for you." Jing Zhencheng pretended to be angry: "What seat should I arrange with the dead? Huh...you may not believe it when I tell you, but I am a tall and great man in Japan!"
"What? What? What? Hahahaha..." Zhang Shouyu burst out laughing after hearing this, and even the sergeant beside him couldn't hold back his laughter.
Jiang Shuo and Dugu Xiang recognized who this was, and Dugu Xiang couldn't help blurting out: "It's Piluo Pavilion! Why is he here?" Zhang Shouyu and Jing Zhencheng stopped talking and laughing, and Zhang Shouyu said curiously: "Young Master Jiang, Xiang'er, Do you know this dead man?" Jiang Shuo could no longer hide it, so he had to admit: "To be honest, this man is Pi Luoge, the leader of Nanzhao. I have fought with him before, so I know him." Zhang Shouyu was shocked and said: " He is the leader of the Nanzhao Kingdom? How could he come here all the way?" Jiang Shuo was stunned, and Dugu Xiang said: "We are also surprised. Piluo Pavilion left a good vassal king to do it, but he came to Tubo to do it. What?" Zhang Shouyu said bitterly: "These vassal kings of Jizhou are the most dishonest. Nanzhao is also on both sides. Those who surrender today will rebel tomorrow. It is impossible to say that there is Nanzhao's team in each other's sneak attack on Yinglong City." Dugu Xiang Unexpectedly, Zhang Shouyu had such a strong ability to figure things out on his own, so he hurriedly said: "It makes sense. I heard that the Southern Barbarians are capable of sorcery. Firstly, they can enchant the mind, and secondly, they can emit smoke and fire."
"Hey!" Zhang Shouyu slapped his thigh and said, "It must have been the help of the Southern Barbarian thieves with witchcraft, so that Tibet could sneak attack and seize the island. Otherwise, how could hundreds of Tang Dynasty athletes on the island be captured so easily." Dugu Xiang added to the flames: "No. Thinking that the leader of Piluo Pavilion was crushed to death, it is so obvious. Isn't there retribution?" Jiang Shuo pulled Dugu Xiang and whispered: "Xiang'er, what are you talking about? What if General Zhang reported this to the court? What will happen if the Tang Dynasty starts fighting with Nanzhao again?" Sure enough, Zhang Shouyu said: "Although Piluo Pavilion is dead, this matter will not be settled so easily. I will tell Commander Han that sooner or later he will go south and destroy the Nanman barbarians!" Jiang Shuo glared. Just like Dugu Xiang, you see what I mean.
Dugu Xiang chuckled and said: "Brother Shuo, why do you sympathize with these Nanman barbarians? Neither Piluoge nor Duan Jianwei are good people. You have also seen his son Geluofeng..." Jiang Shuo said: "But the common people It's innocent. I won't allow you to talk like this again." Dugu Xiang stuck out his tongue and said, "I know." Then he turned to Zhang Shouyu and said, "Brother Zhang, Brother Shuo and I will go down and see if there is anything left in Piluo Pavilion." Comrades who are dead but not dead." Jiang Shuo had this intention and jumped into the pit with Dugu Xiang. Zhang Shouyu was quite moved and said: "You two must be careful." At this moment, the large timber in the pit had been Seventy-seven or eighty-eight pieces were cleared away, leaving only some rubble piled at the bottom of the pit.
The two of them walked around the bottom of the pit and saw that the two cellars were dug with unknown equipment by Tang Jun. The walls were rough.
The two walked around the bottom of the pit twice, but there was no trace of the entrance to the cave with a height of one person between the rock walls...
