Bi Sichen said: "I didn't hear any noise in the royal city. I'm afraid that Doctor Feng has already won a complete victory on the outskirts of the city! We won't have anything to do behind there."
Even so, after all, they had not seen it with their own eyes, and no one dared to take it lightly. They followed the Khotan King Wei Chi Sheng to open the heavy wooden door in the south and walked out of the royal hall. Only then did Jiang Shuo and Dugu Xiang discover that the Khotan King's city was built. Situated on a hill, the city wall looks unusually tall and majestic when it is built on rocks. In fact, there is not much construction.
The royal hall is embedded in the mountain. Except for the main entrance, the other three sides are covered with thick rocks. It seems that the royal hall is the last fortress in the city. Everyone stood on the hillside in front of the royal hall and looked up into the distance. Only then did they see the southwest direction. If there is smoke and fire, I am afraid that the Tang army and the Dabolu Kingdom will fight fiercely there.
Jiang Shuo asked Brother Yuchi: "Where does the secret road of the royal city lead to?"
Yuchi Sheng said: "There is a river in the east and west of Khotan City. Twenty miles east of the city is the Yulong River, and fifty miles west of the city is the Heilong River. The Yulong River produces white jade, and the Heilong River produces black jade. The secret passage under the royal city is actually the Heilong River. Some people also call it the third river in Khotan, the Yinlong River. This river sometimes emerges from the sea of sand and sometimes disappears into the ground. It is appropriate to call it the Yinlong River. The Yinlong River flows from the city of Khotan. The underground passes through the city, and there are two entrances and exits outside the city, the entrance is in the southwest, and the exit is in the northeast..."
Jiang Shuo said: "Then let's divide our troops into two groups to stop them."
As soon as these words came out, everyone looked embarrassed, and no one responded. Although the big cannibal retreated in embarrassment, it was all because of Jiang Shuo's power. If the troops are divided into two groups, even if Jiang Shuo is alone on one side and everyone else is on the other side, there is no guarantee that he will be able to withstand the enemy if he encounters the Great Food Warriors.
But the Tang people were military attachés, and Brother Yuchi was from the royal family of Khotan. It cannot be said that they were afraid of the cannibals and did not dare to leave Jiangshuo and divide their troops. At the embarrassing moment, Cheng Qianli still had a way. He grinned and said: "Hey... Young Master, there is no need to divide the troops. The big cannibal colludes with Da Bolu. After escaping from the city, he will naturally go south to join Da Bolu's army. He will never go to the Hanhai Desert in the north. If you ask me, we will go all the way. Go southwest.”
As soon as he said this, everyone agreed. At this time, Jiang Shuo also understood the general idea and nodded: "Brother Cheng is right. Without further ado, let's leave the city right now!"
Yuchi Sheng said to Yuchi Yao: "Doctor Feng is fighting fiercely for me in Khotan outside. I, the Khotanese man, cannot accept it calmly. I will lead a light cavalry to meet with Dr. Feng. You will lead the central army to garrison in the city. The royal city belongs to me." Khotan is the fundamental place and there must be no mistakes.”
Jiang Shuo secretly praised that Yuchi Sheng was indeed a talented general. He did not panic at critical moments and arranged everything in an orderly manner.
Since Dabolu's army was attacking by surprise, all the money, food and supplies were in the city at the moment. Naturally, they could not abandon the city as usual. In addition, it can be seen from the previous events that Yuchi Sheng cherished his brother very much and asked him to garrison the city. Then he entrusted him with important tasks to show his trust in him. Secondly, he didn't have to leave the city to defend the city, which naturally reduced a lot of danger.
As expected, Yuchi Yao had no choice but to cross his arms and accept the order. Yuchi Sheng then ordered a 200-man elite Yulin Army cavalry, and lent horses to Cheng Qianli, Jiang Shuo and others to ride on, and then they rode together. Out of town.
Everyone drove their horses out of the city. Dugu Xiang thought that the Khotan war horses were just ordinary goods, so he ordered them to go to the Persian mansion outside the city to pick up his and Jiang Shuo's mounts.
After Hu Shang met Batlie for a while, the King of Khotan and the generals of the Tang army escorted Jiang Shuo and Dugu Xiang out of the city like stars over the moon. They were even more convinced that the two were indeed of extraordinary origins and could be escorted by the King of Khotan in person. I'm just afraid that my identity is more noble than I thought.
The two horses, Longxiang and Jade Lion, were carefully fed by the Persians. They had already had enough rest. When they saw their master coming, they all neighed with joy. The Persian businessmen were very smart. They only served diligently before and after, and never asked for money or silk. Character.
Dugu Xiang said to Yuchi Sheng: "We ate and drank in this old barbarian inn during the day, and we haven't paid the bill yet..."
Yuchi Sheng said hurriedly: "Don't bother me about these trivial matters, let Yao Lang handle them."
Yuchi Yao made a calculation with Bartlett and gave him a lot of gold, silver and jewels. Without stopping, everyone rode their horses straight to the southwest.
Everyone ran towards the direction of the smoke, and Jiang Shuo asked: "Where is the exit of the underground river?"
Yuchi Sheng said: "It's strange, it seems to be the same place where the two armies fought."
Dugu Xiang asked curiously: "Such a coincidence? I'm afraid it might be weird."
The city of Khotan is very different from the cities in the Central Plains. Most cities in the Central Plains are surrounded by mountains and rivers, while the city of Khotan is surrounded by the towering Kunlun Mountains in the south and the Tulum Moraine Desert in the north. Heading southwest, the terrain continued to rise, and after traveling for thirty miles, we entered the hilly and mountainous areas.
Duguxiang asked again: "Shouldn't fighting be carried out on plains? How can the doctor lead his army to fight in such uneven places?"
Cheng Qianli laughed loudly and said: "The Tang army is good at defeating many with less. This time Dabolu's cavalry exceeds 10,000, while Doctor Feng's troops are only 2,000. It would be unwise for everyone to let go and fight on the plain... …”
Everyone rode their horses up a high slope, and saw a river valley below. It was getting late, and they saw a large black river flowing down from the mountains in the distance. When they reached this point, the valley made two sharp turns and came out. They found a valley with water on three sides and a mountain to the south. This flat land was no less than ten miles square, but it seemed extremely cramped and narrow at the moment. It turned out that tens of thousands of people were crowded on this flat land.
These people were wearing leather jackets and looked somewhat similar to the Tubo people. They thought they were the army of the Great Bolü Kingdom. At this moment, they were shouting and neighing, and they looked extremely panicked. On the other side of the river, there were much smaller numbers. The knights in armor were probably the two thousand Tang troops led by Feng Changqing that Cheng Qianli mentioned.
Although the Tang army was small in number, it was well-organized and armed with powerful crossbows. They faced off against the Dabolu army across the river. There were many corpses of Dabolu people lying in the river. I am afraid that the Tang army led the Dabolu army here. The Dabolu people rushed several times and were unable to cross the river, so they simply stopped charging and quarreled with the Tang army across the river. After all, there were so many of them that the Tang army did not dare to cross the river rashly.
Despite the loud scolding from both sides, in fact neither of them understood what the other said.
Dugu Xiang saw that the two thousand Tang troops looked exactly the same and couldn't tell who was leading the army, so he asked, "Where is Doctor Feng?"
Cheng Qianli and others also looked around and said, "I didn't see..."
Bi Sichen suddenly pointed to a small temple behind the river valley and said, "I'm afraid it's over there."
Yuchi Sheng was startled and said, "Why is it over there?"
Bi Sichen explained: "Feng Changqing is a civil servant and has a disability in his legs. He does not charge into battle. He leads the army with wisdom rather than strength. I see that the surrounding fields are empty, and only that temple is suitable for the army."
Yuchi Sheng said: "But the exit of the underground river is also in that temple!"
Only then did everyone see the clues. It was a small Buddhist temple with only two small courtyards within the walls. But the gables are tight and the roof tiles are distinctive, which is obviously carefully built. The Heilong River loops through the west of the temple. It seems to have turned a corner. In fact, the river bank in front of the temple is surging. It seems that part of the river water rushed underground here and became an underground river.
Jiang Shuo said: "No, if the big cannibal emerges from the ground, wouldn't Doctor Feng be in danger?"
Cheng Qianli was also a little anxious and said: "Go and have a look!"
Jiang Shuo said to Yuchi Sheng: "King of Khotan, could you please lead your cavalry and wait at Poshan while I, Brother Xiang'er and Brother Cheng go down to take a look."
If more than 200 people rush down the hillside, the Tang army will not know whether it is an enemy or a friend, and it is inevitable that they will be injured by accident. It may be self-defeating and allow Dabolu's army to break out. Moreover, only Jiang Shuo can deal with the "faceless man" of Da Shi. There are so many people there. It was useless. Yuchi Sheng nodded and said: "Young Master Jiang needs to agree on an order. When we are needed, as soon as the order is given, I will lead the army to charge!"
Jiang Shuo said: "I will use Ma Ming as my nickname!"
Yuchi Sheng was about to ask how the tens of thousands of horses on the battlefield could be distinguished by using the horse's cry as a signal? However, Jiang Shuo and the others had already rushed down the hillside and were several feet away after several ups and downs.
Bi Sichen looked at the backs of the three of them, scratched his head and said, "I didn't expect Deputy Protector Cheng to know these strange arts..."
The generals of the Tang army only knew that Cheng Qianli was tall, physically strong and a good fighter, but they never knew that he was also a martial arts hero.
Jiang Shuo and the other three avoided the Tang army's sight and detoured around the back wall of the small temple. Jiang Shuo was afraid that Cheng Qianli would be discovered before his Qinggong was at its peak, so he asked him to wait outside the courtyard while he and Dugu Xiang climbed over the wall lightly and jumped to the top of the temple. However, they saw many Tang soldiers lying around in the temple, and many black-robed warriors holding daggers on guard in the courtyard. Sure enough, something had happened.
Dugu Xiang pointed at the well behind the courtyard. Jiang Shuo knew that these big cannibals must have come out of this well. The entrance and exit here were narrow and horses could not enter or exit. The big cannibals abandoned their horses and walked on foot, climbed out of the well, and made a sneak attack. The unprepared Tang army.
Jiang Shuo pointed to Dugu Xiang, then to the backyard, then to herself, then to the front yard. Dugu Xiang immediately understood. She smiled and jumped off the roof with Jiang Shuo at the same time. At this time, the sky was already dark, and Dashi People didn't dare to raise fire, and the black-robed warrior's kung fu was much worse than that of the faceless man. In the darkness, Jiang Shuo and Dugu Xiang came and went like the wind, and they subdued all these people in a short time.
Then Cheng Qianli was invited to enter. The three of them broke the window paper from one side of the hall and looked in. They saw Ibn Dalara sitting on the guest couch. In front of him, twelve "faceless men" wearing masks They formed a circle and surrounded a middle-aged man dressed as a civil servant in the middle. The guards around the man had fallen to the ground, but he seemed unmoved and his expression remained as usual.
Jiang Shuo said: "This person should be Doctor Feng. Fortunately, he is fine."
Cheng Qianli said: "The number is wrong."
Duguxiang asked: "What's the wrong number?"
Cheng Qianli said: "These warriors are not the only ones who cannibalize people. It seems that there are others hiding under the well."
Jiang Shuo was shocked and turned around to look at Cheng Qianli. He thought that Old Cheng was indeed thick on the outside and thin on the inside. They turned back to the well and faintly heard the sound of breathing under the well. Dugu Xiang put his finger on his lips. , pointing to a huge rockery stone in the corner with a smile.
Cheng Qianli understood. He and Dugu Xiang had evil smiles on their faces and worked together to push the boulder. With a "boom", the boulder fell down, smashing the well circle to pieces and blocking the well mouth tightly.
Curses were immediately heard from the well, and the faceless men in the main hall were also rushed out. Jiang Shuo went up to greet Dugu Xiang and said, "Xiang'er, go and save Doctor Feng!"
Dugu Xiang immediately launched his star-crossing steps and rushed into the hall. The faceless man who had snatched him out of the hall felt his eyes flicker as Dugu Xiang dodged in. It was too late to turn back and pursue him. Jiang Shuo had already rushed in front of him.
The warriors knew that they would not be able to defeat them. They did not dare to attack and only wanted to form a formation to protect themselves. Facing these twelve agile warriors, Jiang Shuo could not knock them all down at once.
Cheng Qianli's lightness kung fu was far inferior to Jiang Shuo and Dugu Xiang, but he took advantage of it and slowly walked around the group of warriors. The faceless man's attention was completely focused on Jiang Shuo, and Cheng Qianli was allowed to walk into the palace.
But suddenly he heard Cheng Qianli yell: "Oh, no!"
