Don't be a prince

Wearing a mask, Sun Simiao said indignantly: "In order to beware of the Tang Dynasty, Tuyuhun can be said to be doing everything possible, even the cattle and sheep that died of illness were used as weapons!"

Qin Qiong and Li Jing looked at each other, shook their heads helplessly and said, "Mr. Sun doesn't know something. It is the old wisdom of the Huns to pollute the water source with dead cattle and sheep. They have used this tactic for hundreds of years."

Li Jing rubbed his temples, and said depressedly: "The water I'm carrying will last for three days at most, and three days is not enough time to cross this Gobi area! If the water source in one place is polluted, you can't trust it in other places. Who knows the water in other places is Isn’t it also polluted. Daoist Sun, you are proficient in medicine, what can you do?”

Sun Simiao shook his head: "An old man can only cure diseases, how can he deal with polluted water sources? But in my opinion, you are asking the wrong person."

Seeing Sun Simiao pointing at the crown prince, Li Jing immediately cupped his hands and said, "Is there any way, Your Highness?"

Li Chengqian nodded and said: "There is still a way. I made preparations in advance before the army set off to guard against this situation. However, this method is time-consuming and laborious. Even if it is used, it can only produce drinking water for the entire army. Come on, the war horse still doesn't care about it."

Hearing this, Li Daliang was overjoyed and said: "It is enough to solve the drinking water of the army. At present, our drinking water can last for three days. It will take up to seven days to go out of the Gobi. It is still possible for the soldiers to be wronged with the horses for three or two days."

Seeing that Li Jing also nodded, Li Chengqian immediately extended his hand.

And Li Jing, without hesitation, took out a token and handed it to Li Chengqian.

Regardless of Li Chengqian being the prince, when he wanted to call soldiers in the army, he still had to have a military order.

Although the Gobi Desert lacks water sources, you can still find a lot if you search carefully.However, with the pool of dead objects in front of him, no one dared to trust even the clear water.

It is actually very easy to make distilled water, even in the military today.

They found a two-step wide water flow, and following Li Chengqian's order, many soldiers immediately started to act. Some dug the river to divert the water flow, while others dug holes along the way.

The first pit was filled with gravel high above the water, the second was lined with heavy sackcloth, and the third was burlap sacks filled with charcoal scraps.

The fifth, sixth, and seventh tracks are all charcoal chips.

The water filtered through seven checkpoints finally entered a large circular pit, which was covered by an oilcloth tent, and the top in the middle was not supported. Instead, it was deliberately made loose, like an upside-down cone.And at the bottom of the cone, there is a wooden barrel.

As night fell, the water in the circular puddle was already full, so Li Chengqian ordered the upstream to block the water flow.

Two strong soldiers carried a stone heated by the fire with two wooden sticks, and threw it directly into the circular pool.

The second block, the third block...

At the beginning, it was just a little heat generated when throwing stones. After a while, the temperature of the pool water itself also rose and began to emit heat.The temperature in the Gobi at night is estimated to be below zero, so the top of the tent, which has been quiet for a long time, began to drip continuously, but more water droplets moved to the middle of the tent, and finally dripped into the wooden barrel below.

It was just drops at first, but when the heat became more and more obvious, the water droplets finally turned into a string of water.

The soldiers who witnessed this miraculous scene worked even more vigorously, and the bucket of water was soon full.

Li Jing, who watched the whole process, pointed to the bucket carried out by the soldiers, and said, "Is it that simple?"

The scene that the soldiers thought was miraculous should not be too simple in Li Jing's eyes.

Li Chengqian nodded and said with a smile: "It's that simple. In fact, knowledge comes from life. Those who know how to apply it can create miracles. Sometimes when you look up at the sky and walk, you may not be right."

Li Jing also nodded, and saw that the soldiers were working harder, so he went back to rest in peace.If there is no problem with the water source, let alone crossing the Gobi Desert, even crossing the desert after going out is not a problem.The original plan was to go through the Gobi and then cross the desert, completely going around behind Murong Fuyun. The pollution of the water source caught him by surprise, and he even wanted to abandon this plan for a while.Who would have thought that the crown prince would be able to extract pure water from the sewage and solve the problem of the army's water shortage. In this way, the army's combat strength will not decrease, and Murong Fuyun may be unable to escape this time.

It was not only the North Army who encountered the same situation, but also Li Daozong's South Army.

After sucking up the last drop of water in the jug, Hou Junji threw the jug on the ground angrily, and said to Li Daozong: "King Jiang Xia, do you think Li Jing is sick? They obviously went south from Liangzhou to make a detour. Sending troops from Gaochang is the best, why do they have to go from south to north, and we go from north to south? Isn’t this a nonsense?”

Li Daozong just took a sip, put the water bottle into the saddle, sighed and said to Hou Junji: "You have such a temper, why are you so irritable? Li Jing naturally has his own considerations for doing this. Do, what is there to complain about?"

After taking a big sip from the water bottle that he asked to play, Hou Junji said angrily, "What are you thinking about? In my opinion, this old thief is just revenge for my reporting him for treason. The prince has always been at odds with me, and now The two of them get together, maybe they want to torment me!"

Seeing Hou Junji's spit flying everywhere, Li Daozong shook his head helplessly: "Forget it, let me tell you directly, Li Jing did this to hide the real intention of our Tang army. There is no ban in Liangzhou after the year, but The commercial roads are still open and merchants from all over the world are allowed to enter. This is impossible without spies. Li Jing left Liangzhou with the slogan of returning to the court. When I passed through Liangzhou, I also used the slogan of returning to the court.

Unlike Liangzhou, places like Shanzhou, Kuozhou and Chunzhou are all under martial law.Li Jing left a large number of wounded and recruits in Liangzhou, the purpose of which was to attract Tuyuhun's attention, so that our two returning troops could hide from their noses.It's not like you don't know about Murong Fuyun. Now hiding in the far west is already the limit. If we force him any more, he will definitely dare to leave his clan and go away to a foreign country.If you want to completely destroy him, you can only find a way to surround him and beat him to death before you can capture him. "

Hou Junji nodded half-understood, although he had been studying hard since the emperor ascended the throne, but he got used to it, how could he change so quickly.When it comes to this kind of trickery, he is confused.

Before marching, bring up to three days' worth of water. If you don't replenish it for more than three days, something serious will happen.Li Jing's side had the means to make distilled water, but Li Daozong's side did not.Facing polluted water sources, they can only pin their hopes on the next water source.After repeated hopes failed, morale began to slump for a while.

The second day after the water was cut off, there was a voice of retreat in the army.However, if you retreat at this time, you will definitely fall down on the way back. It is better to persevere to the end. After all, as long as you enter the boundary where Tuyuhun lives, there will be water.It is absolutely impossible for the Tuyuhun people to pollute the water source they use for survival!

Facing the soldiers with low morale, Li Daozong didn't know what to do.The allusion of looking for plum blossoms to quench thirst must not be used lightly in the army!

And just when the generals behind him couldn't bear it anymore, Hou Junji went crazy.He stopped the army, jumped off the horse, and asked for a big basin and a bowl. Hou Junji chopped off his horse and horse with a knife, took the big basin to catch the blood, scooped up a bowl from an empty bowl, and poured it into his mouth, loudly He said: "Tuyuhun has been invaded one after another, and the people on the border are miserable. Your majesty is wise and ordered us to get rid of this serious trouble for the people. Now that Tuyuhun has not been eliminated, how can we slack off! What should we do if there is no water? Let's drink horse blood and cross the Gobi The zone is when we are waiting to drink the blood of the enemy!"

After being splashed all over his face with the blood of the war horse, and after drinking a bowl, Hou Junji looked like a demon god, his whole body was red and disgusting.However, the soldiers plucked up their courage instead, and after discussing with each other, several of them killed a horse and drank the horse's blood to quench their thirst.

Seeing that the team was revitalized, even Li Daozong couldn't help but admire Hou Junji.Although this guy has a bad personality, he still has some tricks.

After insisting on passing through the next area by drinking horse blood, he found a clean water source and the tribe of Tuyuhun.In order not to leak the news, Li Daozong ordered the tribe to be razed to the ground without hesitation, occupied the small pasture, selected some soldiers to change into Tuyuhun clothes, and continued to graze, so as to avoid the suspicion of the tribe next door.

The agreed time to start the war has not yet arrived, so we can only continue to wait.

On the other hand, Li Chengqian's estimation was still wrong. Using oilcloth and distillation to obtain water can really provide drinking water for the army and livestock.When the water source was sufficient, Li Jing restarted his plan without hesitation, and the army plunged into the desert. After three days of hard work, they arrived at Tulun Qi.

Those with moraine in their names generally have deserts nearby, such as Tulun moraine, which is already the border of Tuyuhun, and further west will enter the Buddhist country Khotan.Regarding Khotan, Datang has no plans in the short term. The relationship between the two countries is still the relationship between the suzerain state and the dependent state, which is a good group.However, now that the Tang Dynasty is attacking Tuyuhun, even if Khotan does not send troops to help Tuyuhun, he will still take in the remnants for protection.

Li Jing led the army into this area after ordering scouts to kill all the sentries in Tulunqi, whether Tuyuhun or Khotan.

"Murong Fuyun has a very good relationship with Khotan. If he loses to us, he will probably flee to Khotan with his troops. The forces in the Western Regions have been complicated since Khotan. Your Majesty does not want to make enemies in advance, so we are not allowed to continue to pursue. But, the old man was defeated by this bastard, and he couldn't swallow his breath no matter what, Your Highness, Lord Yi, how about ten thousand of you troops stationed here?"

Li Chengqian nodded without hesitation. It would be interesting if he could see Murong Fuyun's desperate look.

Although he knew that most of the time he was stationed in Tulunqi would not encounter war, Qin Qiong could only agree.His own body knew it well, it was very rare for him to be able to march all the way here.

After allocating [-] troops and a large number of gunpowder weapons, Li Jing led the bulk of the troops and began to advance along the edge of the desert.

Since the dispatch of troops to the present, gunpowder weapons have not yet exerted their effects.The main reason is that Tuyuhun also used more horseback riding and shooting. Even if gunpowder weapons were effective, it would be a waste to use them.

But now it can't be wasted anymore. After seeing the environment in Tulunqi, Li Chengqian said to Qin Qiong: "Mr. Yi, why don't you arrange the formation and leave it to Gu?"

Qin Qiong smiled, and agreed without hesitation: "Since His Royal Highness wants to try, just send troops and generals, and the old minister will assist you."

After the command came, Li Chengqian immediately ordered the soldiers to prepare.If Murong Fuyun was defeated and fled, there would definitely not be many troops around him, and an army of 1 people was enough to deal with it.Therefore, the most difficult thing is not how to fight, but how to prevent Murong Fuyun from running away again. After trying to go to Khotan and being blocked, it would be embarrassing if he turned directly to the desert.Although it was very difficult for Tang Jun to cross the desert, it was not necessarily the case for the Tuyuhun people who grew up on the edge of the desert.

If Murong Fuyun is let go here, I am afraid there will be no chance to catch him again.In this era, it is not so difficult to catch a specific person.

Qin Qiong remained silent, watching Li Chengqian's arrangement quietly, without getting a chance to interrupt the whole process.In his opinion, the arrangement made by the crown prince was perfect, and there was nothing to correct.

The days of squatting in one place are very boring. Although I know that the flames of war in front of me have been ignited, but I can't see the real battlefield, it is still very illusory.

After more than ten days, the scouts sent out finally responded, saying that a group of people was rushing here from the territory of Tuyuhun.

After hearing the news, Li Chengqian was overjoyed, immediately put on his armor, and ordered the whole army to stand by.

The horses of this team were very fast, and dozens of war horses were left far behind by one war horse.

Seeing this Qi Juechen's appearance, Li Chengqian concluded that the leader was Murong Fuyun.

A loud arrow had already hit the bow, and it was not until dozens of riders entered the encirclement that Li Chengqian rode his horse out from behind the boulder and shot the loud arrow out.

After the sound of the arrow, the soldiers in the Populus euphratica forest on the side of the road rushed out, and the soldiers in the camp also rushed out, blocking the intersection.

Seeing that they were ambushed, dozens of cavalry were about to turn around, but they found that soldiers also appeared on the way they came, completely blocking the road.

With a sudden heart attack, just as the people suspected of Murong Fuyun wanted to turn their horses and enter the desert, the soldiers hidden behind the sand dunes of the desert also appeared.

Complete encirclement!

Seeing that these dozens of riders were in the marked area, Li Chengqian shot another loud arrow.

It didn't take long for the marked ground to explode.Gravel splash.

This is a grenade specially modified by Li Chengqian. Because a lot of gunpowder was poured out, the power has dropped.This round of explosions looked like a massive explosion.In fact, the power is not enough, at most the horse is injured.

After a round of explosions, people were turned on their backs.After confirming that none of these people were carrying bows and arrows, Li Jian allowed the prince to come forward.

Leading 1000 people to encircle the past, Li Chengqian didn't stop until he could talk to each other.

"Which one is Murong Fuyun? Stand up!"

As soon as Li Chengqian's words fell, a big man came out from the crowd, pulled out the scimitar from his waist, and said angrily, "This king is Murong Fuyun, you despicable Tang dogs, if you want to capture this king alive, go ahead and dream!"

After finishing speaking, you must kill yourself.

But his plan was doomed to fail, before his scimitar pierced his neck, he was already shot in the chest by an arrow.

Shaking his hand that was a little sore from the bowstring collapsed because of the extremely fast shooting, Li Chengqian glanced at these people, fixed his eyes on a thin figure and said with a smile: "Murong Fuyun, are you stupid? Do you think you can find someone to replace you?" If you commit suicide with your identity, we will recognize the wrong person? Don’t forget, you are already 50 years old this year, standing among a bunch of young and middle-aged people, you should not be too conspicuous!"

Being recognized, Murong Fuyun stopped pretending, straightened his clothes and stood up, imitating the etiquette of the Tang people, cupping his hands and saying: "The general is really smart, a little trick can't fool you, that's right, I am Murong Fuyun, little general, how about How about you pretend you haven't met us today? Murong Fuyun swears with the most noble etiquette in the grassland, if you let me go, Tuyuhun will regard you as a national teacher in the future, and if you want, you can sit on an equal footing with this king. "

"National teacher? On an equal footing?"

After hearing Murong Fuyun's words, Li Chengqian laughed loudly: "Old Murong, you actually know the truth that the Central Plains would rather be a chicken head than a phoenix tail, but you are really persuading the wrong person. I am the prince of the Tang Dynasty alone. You want to become the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and you let a single prince of the Tang Dynasty be Tuyuhun's national teacher? Hahaha."

Amidst Li Chengqian's hearty laughter, the pupils of a guard behind Murong Fuyun couldn't help tightening his pupils. Is this person in front of him the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty?if....

No if, before he could move, an arrow shot out from the crossbow, hitting his throat.

Li Jian reloaded the crossbow and said to Li Chengqian: "Your Highness, stop talking nonsense with them, just take them all!"

Chapter 325 Unexpected Discovery

Qin Qiong also appeared beside Li Chengqian on a horse, and said, "Hurry up, otherwise things will change."

Li Chengqian nodded, turned around and ordered them to be arrested.

Facing the approaching sergeants, all the Tuyuhun people became nervous. Murong Fuyun wanted to kill himself several times, but when he finally made up his mind, Li Jian's crossbow arrow knocked away the bend in his hand in seconds. knife.

Just when the sergeants were approaching with knives and preparing to capture these people, a sudden change occurred!

A machete appeared on Murong Fuyun's neck, and with just a slight stroke, blood flowed out.

"Amoza, Turik, put down your weapons!"

None of the Tuyuhun people thought that someone within themselves would kidnap the king. Just as they were about to turn around to rescue the king, the crossbow arrows they had aimed at a long time ago were fired and sent them to hell.

Seeing Murong Fuyun being kidnapped, Li Chengqian looked at the kidnapper suspiciously. He was about [-] years old, and his facial contours seemed to be compatible with the two bloodlines of Hu and Han.A half-breed, why did he kidnap King Tuyuhun?

Murong Fuyun recovered from the surprise, looked at the guards struggling on the ground in pain, and said sharply: "Murong Shun, what are you going to do?"

Qin Qiong was holding the water bottle, drinking one sip at a time, as if watching a play, then turned to Li Chengqian and said, "Your Highness, this Murong Shun is the son of Murong Shun and Princess Guanghua of the Sui Dynasty. , during the troubled times at the end of the Sui Dynasty, they were also in the Central Plains until the time of Gaozu, when Tuyuhun sent troops to help the Tang Dynasty attack Ligui in Hexi, and was sent back to Tuyuhun."

Hearing Murong Fuyun's question, Murong Shun smiled bitterly and said, "What are you doing? Naturally, it is to prevent you from committing suicide! Why do you think Datang knows where you are hiding? Why do you think I have to follow you to Khotan to rescue soldiers? Isn’t it because you are afraid that you will escape? Murong Fuyun, Datang is so powerful, you idiot dare to resist? Put it on me, you have already surrendered, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty promised me that as long as I surrender, I can guarantee you Compared with you, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty has much more credibility. You promised me to make me the crown prince! Why did you appoint the third son as the crown prince when I was not around?"

Hearing Murong Shun's hysterical roar, Murong Fuyun closed his eyes in pain: "Forget it, I should have killed you as soon as I knew you had surrendered to the enemy!"

After a sigh of emotion, Murong Fuyun was no longer afraid, and grabbed Murong Shun's scimitar to cut himself off.

But how can Li Jian, who has been staring at him, make him fulfill his wish?A crossbow arrow directly shot Murong Fuyun's arm, cutting off his thoughts of suicide.

Putting away the crossbow, seeing the prince looking over in confusion, Li Jian laughed and said, "Your Highness, Your Majesty once said that it would be better for Xieli to have more friends to get along with. This servant thinks so."

Since it was the emperor's order, Li Chengqian didn't plan to intervene.

Murong Shun threw down the scimitar, knelt down on his knees, took out a letter from his arms, held it up high, and said loudly: "Your Highness, this is a letter from His Majesty Tang Emperor, please read it, I, Murong Shun, have absolutely no intention of turning against Tang." , can be seen in the sky, Your Highness, please observe clearly!"

Li Jian jumped off his horse, took the letter from Murong Shun, opened it to make sure there was no danger, and handed it to the crown prince.

Seeing the familiar flying white on the letter, especially the seal at the end, Li Chengqian was sure that the letter was written by the emperor.Because, only the unscrupulous guy Li Shimin would use the previous seal as proof.You must know that since he got the Jade Seal of Chuanguo, the emperor had already announced in the court that the previous Jade Seal was invalid.

A voided seal, even if something is promised on the paper, can be overturned at any time.Who can play with the emperor?

Despite this, Li Chengqian decided to give Murong Shun what he said in the letter.Now Li Jing is probably leading the army to chase Tuyuhun's army everywhere. If the dispute continues like this, it is not known when the troops will be withdrawn.But thinking of the situation in Chang'an, Li Chengqian decided to go back early.

Glancing at Murong Shun who was smiling, he was obviously nauseated, so Li Chengqian forced himself to put on a smile and said: "Since father promised you that he would make you the new king of Tuyuhun, Gu will naturally help you. For the time being, you will follow me." Be alone."

Taking another look at Murong Fuyun who had already been tied up, Li Chengqian shook his head helplessly.The courage of a person when he cut himself off is actually only temporary. It is already very good for someone like Murong Fuyun who dares to put it into practice after the battle between heaven and man.At least, I don't know how much better than that wimp Jieli.

After ordering the soldiers to take Murong Fuyun into custody, Li Chengqian withdrew his army and prepared to join Li Jing.Since the emperor's father is going to support Murong Shun, the puppet Khan, it is estimated that the officials in charge of Tuyuhun affairs will be dispatched soon.This has always been the case when the Tang Dynasty acquired new lands. It was the job of the generals to fight with the army, and it was the job of the civil officials to govern and recover.I just don't know who will be sent over.

Li Jing's central army is not difficult to find, and soon, the army will be together.To Li Chengqian's surprise, it was Dai Zhou who was sent to Tuyuhun.

On the way to the Chinese army, he guessed many candidates, but they were all officials directly related to the emperor, Dai Zhou?This guy is clearly against the emperor.

"Your Highness, the purpose of my ministers coming to Tuyuhun is not to set up a government here, but to execute a group of Tuyuhun nobles for their crimes. Your Majesty said that Tuyuhun was a subject before, so he should be imprisoned by Dali Temple."

Seeing that Dai Zhou's already dark face became even darker, Li Chengqian knew that he was also extremely depressed at this time.Is Tuyuhun a subject?It is true in name, but if it is true, it is lying with eyes open.The emperor's order was clearly a fool's errand.

"Dai Qing, I wonder where Wei Shizhong is now?"

Dai Zhou was obviously taken aback, and then replied: "Your Majesty announced at the beginning of the year that the new commercial tax would be one out of twelve for net profit, and it is currently being implemented throughout the Tang Dynasty. Was sent to the field to inspect."

Li Chengqian nodded knowingly, that's right, the emperor was obviously looking for an excuse to send out those who didn't deal with it, and it seemed that the opposition from the court was very strong.Such a situation, if Wei Zheng, Dai Zhou and others were still there, would probably be even more chaotic.

He didn't say anything when he understood, Li Chengqian felt that it would be better for Dai Zhou to stay with Tuyuhun for a while longer.

"Dai Qing, the affairs here in Tuyuhun will be troublesome. Murong Shun has been brought here by the orphan. Dai Qing should do more to help him to the top."

Dai Zhou nodded, asked for a brocade box from the official, took out the last imperial decree, and handed it to Li Chengqian.

When ministers receive the order, they need to burn incense and kneel down, so naturally the prince does not need to do so.After unfolding the edict and taking a look, Li Chengqian sighed helplessly.

In the midst of strategizing, the decision-making is thousands of miles away, the emperor has already guessed the end of the battle, otherwise it would be impossible to arrange things in such an orderly manner.The imperial decree ordered him to escort Murong Fuyun back to Beijing, and set off immediately after receiving the decree.

However, if Murong Fuyun died, would the emperor's prediction be a joke?