a pillow in autumn

The night is dark, the moon is bright and the stars are sparse.Quyang City, which had been besieged by the Tu army for many days, turned off the lights early, and only a few corner lights were carried at the patrol station at the head of the city.

The gate of the city opened slowly, allowing only one person and one horse to walk. Several people filed out. After walking for more than ten steps, a horse snorted, and everyone stopped for a while. Soothe the skinny horse's neck.

In the pale moonlight, Shen Lan pointed in the direction of the rocks and gravel, Zhou Mubai nodded slightly, and they avoided the pass guarded by the Tu army, and disappeared into the darkness of night.

After walking in the desolate and rugged desert in the middle of the night, several thin horses were trembling uncontrollably with exhaustion, several people in Prince Rui's residence discussed a few words and stopped at a sheltered place for a rest.

Zhou Mubai sat on a flat stone, took the water bag from Shen Lan, and took a few sips with his head raised.This time the departure from the city was unexpectedly smooth, except for the two patrolling sentinels who met half an hour ago, they were almost unimpeded along the way. Although they deliberately avoided the pass, Zhou Mubai always felt that something was wrong.

"That day there was a fierce battle outside the city of Quyang, and the casualties between our army and the Tu army should be roughly the same. During these days, the Tu tribe attacked the city several times, and our army counterattacked with huge stones and kerosene. There are about 10 to [-] troops left, but the siege of the city for a long time will consume a lot of food and fodder for the horses. Will the siege troops be reduced due to insufficient food and grass?" Shen Lan sat cross-legged on the yellow sand, and accompanied Zhou Mubai to analyze.

Zhou Mubai didn't answer, just frowned and used a dead branch to paint on the sand. Shen Lan's eyes followed the branch, and after a long while, he realized that what Zhou Mubai had drawn was actually a sketch of the route they had just walked through.

"We met those two Tu soldiers here." Zhou Mubai touched the sandy ground with a tree branch, "Half a mile ahead is the fork road leading to the Tu tribe."

"Your Highness means that the two tea soldiers may not be patrol soldiers?" Shen Lan understood immediately.

Zhou Mubai nodded and said: "Just now we avoided them far away, and didn't pay attention to which direction they were going."

Shen Lan immediately jumped up from the sand: "I'll chase after it to have a look."

Zhou Mubai stopped him and said: "The horses are already extremely tired, you can't catch up with their fast horses even if you drive over."

Shen Lan squeezed her eyes and smiled mischievously: "My legs can run faster than a horse. Before I set off, I discussed with Shen Yan that if I can break out of the siege, I will meet you at the Hu Yangzhong in front at the fourth watch. He took the East Palace Wei can escape if he wants to, Your Highness might as well go to the front and wait." Finally he said: "If you still don't see my elder brother after a cup of tea, please leave quickly, Your Highness."

Mu Bai has already heard the unfinished meaning in Shen Lan's words.If not, they must have encountered the enemy.She patted Shen Lan on the shoulder: "Be careful. We'll wait for you at Populus euphratica Tomb."

Shen Lan nodded slightly, turned around and rushed back and forth.

Dozens of tall Populus euphratica trees are scattered in the yellow sand in the western frontier. I don't know when and who planted them here. The trunks are straight, but the branches and leaves are already dead.

Populus euphratica mound, as the name suggests, is a withered place.

The six riders of Prince Rui's Mansion hid their figures in the dead forest with the help of tall tree trunks. A bodyguard with the best eyesight was sitting on a dead branch and looked into the distance. A dark figure in the desert was moving quickly, getting more and more Nearly, the personal guard threw a pebble lightly, and the people under the tree immediately woke up from their shallow sleep.

After waiting for a while, the figure rushed into the forest, Zhou Mubai stepped out from behind the tree, and saw that it was Shen Lan.

"Your Highness!" Shen Lan quickly adjusted her breath, "As Your Highness expected, they went to the base camp of the Tu Clan." As she spoke, she took out a small round wooden slip from her bosom, which was sealed with clay.

Zhou Mubai took the slips and asked, "Where are the two tea soldiers?"

Shen Lan made a gesture of wiping her neck.Zhou Mubai crushed the clay seal, opened the bamboo slips, revealing a piece of white towel with words on it.The Tu people have very little paper, and they mostly use cloth to convey messages.

Zhou Mubai looked at it under the moonlight, the towel was written in the language of the Tu tribe, she frowned and handed the towel to the guards, none of them could understand it.

"I heard that there is a man in the Eastern Palace Guard who is erudite and versatile. He used to be a servant of His Highness the Crown Prince. I don't know if he knows it." One of the guards said.

Mubai nodded, and looked at the sky again, the moon was already in the west.

"Your Highness, the fourth watch is coming to an end."

After waiting for another half a cup of tea, Shen Lan stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, I'm afraid something will change if you wait for a long time. Your Highness, please set off for Ye County." He said: "Whether it is Shen Yan and Dong Gongwei or the troops led by the other two lieutenants, once they are caught by the patrol, the Tu army will know that we left the city to ask for help tonight, and I am afraid that the Tu army will come after us soon. "

Zhou Mubai patted him on the shoulder, knowing that Qu Yang's emergency assistance was imminent, he took the reins, and they got on the horse together.Shen Lan's ears twitched, and suddenly said: "Someone is coming!" After saying that, she lightly tapped her horse's back, jumped onto the nearest dead tree, climbed up the top of the tree nimbly, looked around a few times, and slipped down again: "There is a small team coming over, I can't see clearly, and I don't know if it is Shen Yan."

There was expectation in his tone, Zhou Mubai smiled, and said: "Hide the horses behind the tree, it would be best if Dong Gongwei came, if it wasn't..." She raised her eyebrows lightly, raised her hand and made a "cut" gesture.

The team rushed to the edge of the forest, Shen Yan whistled twice with his fingers on his lips, Shen Lan rushed out immediately, and said happily: "Brother!"

Several Donggong guards here saw someone jumping out, and they all turned their swords at each other. Shen Yan heard the voice and said hurriedly: "My own!" Then he glared at Shen Lan and said: "Didn't you say that the whistle is an order!"

"Why did you arrive at such an hour?" Shen Lan also knew that she was in a hurry, and seeing that several people in Donggongwei had failed, she said in surprise: "Have you encountered an enemy?"

Zhou Mubai also came out, several people got off their horses and cupped their hands, Shen Yan said: "I met two groups of tea soldiers along the road, one group of more than ten people came very fast, I really couldn't avoid it, so I had to fight."

"More than ten people?" Mu Bai frowned slightly: "With your kung fu, you've all failed. The other party must be no ordinary soldier."

Shen Yan nodded and said: "Look at their origins, they are not patrolling people. We beheaded them and dragged them behind the rocks, and found this on a leader who looked like a boss." Yan Bi took out a Something the size of half a palm.

Zhou Mubai took it and took a closer look, it was like a token, the whole body was black, but it glowed white, and it was hard to tell what material it was made of.One side of the token is engraved with a symbol of the Tu family, and the other side is a bird with wings spread, the lines are simple but lifelike.

One of Donggong Weizhong said: "This character is black, and among the Tu people, it represents the Rizhu tribe."

Zhou Mubai raised his eyes to look at him and said, "You are that learned and talented attendant of Brother Huang."

"Don't dare." Dong Gongwei clasped his hands and said, "I'm going down to the general of Dong Gong Yulin Zhonglang, Qu Bin."

Zhou Mubai put away the token and said: "Just now we also found some things on Tu Bing, Master Qu will also take a look at it later. It's not suitable to stay here for a long time, let's go first!"

All the way to Ye County, until the sky was slightly bright, I arrived at a secluded village with only a dozen households.The two guards separately exchanged silver taels for some food with the hunters in the village, and then fed the horses with fodder.

Avoiding the village households, Zhou Mubai handed the towel brought back by Shen Lan to Qu Bin. Qu Bin read it twice and said: "This is a military document from the general of the Tu army to the head of the Rizhu tribe. The Japanese army spent a lot of money, and the soldiers who repeatedly attacked the city suffered serious losses, so the patriarch sent more troops to retake Quyang City in one fell swoop."

"Add more troops..." Zhou Mubai lingered on the scarf for a moment, and asked, "Just now you said that the token you got back from killing the enemy was also from the Rizhu tribe?"

"Yes. This token is made by Wujin, and each of the four major tribes has a symbol mark to distinguish it. Although it is not the only one in each tribe, it is also extremely powerful, and it must not be used unless it is a major military situation." Qu Bin nodded slightly to Zhou Mubai's doubts, and said: "The ancestors of this minister lived in the Western Territory for generations, and there were many people in the family who traded with the Western Territory. When my grandfather talked about the past, I knew a little bit about the customs of the Tu people. Now I still have many grandparents and uncles who are registered in Gunzhou and Qierzhou."

Zhou Mubai nodded, and stopped asking any more questions. He looked at the token for a long while, and said, "The token you intercepted came from the Richai Tribe, and the military document that Shen Lan chased went away. It will take at least seven or eight days to get here." She frowned and walked a few steps under the moonlight, muttering to herself: "It must be that the Tu clan has a more important military situation. What could it be?" Woolen cloth."

Because it is still close to Quyang City, it will not be long to stay. Everyone is full, so they just squinted their eyes and took a nap. They exchanged some dry food and hurried on the road.In order to prevent the villagers from being tracked down by the soldiers, they took a detour before turning back to the road to Ye County.

Walking to a fork in the road, Zhou Mubai stopped his horse by the side of the road, and more than ten people formed a half circle around her, listening to her instructions: "You all know the information about the Tu army that was intercepted just now, just in case, I will The soldiers want to divide into two routes." She raised her whip and pointed to the front and said: "Two forked roads, Gu and Dong Gongwei went to Ye Jun to find General Meng Xiang and went to Quyang for rescue, Shen Yan and Shen Lan brought the personal guards of Prince Rui's residence back to Ji Jun to Wei Jin General Peng asks for help. The military situation is urgent, and I hope you will hurry up and bring reinforcements back to Quyang City within nine days!"

"Yes!" All the guards agreed immediately.Only Shen Yan and Shen Lan didn't answer, both of them had the same thought in their minds, so they got off their horses together, cupped their hands and said: "Your Highness, please go to Ye County together."

Zhou Mubai glanced at them, and Qu Bin stepped forward on his horse and said, "Your Highness, can I have a few words with the two adults?"

Zhou Mubai raised his hand on horseback.

Qu Bin jumped off his horse and made a bow to the Shen family brothers: "I know that you two are worried that His Highness will be in danger in Ye County and will be alone and helpless. Qu will guarantee the head of the project, and we will make this trip to protect the crown prince. Do your best to protect His Royal Highness Prince Rui."

Zhou Mubai said: "That's it. Let's go."

Qu Bin looked at the Shen family brothers who were still standing by the road, took the reins, and was about to mount the horse, when Shen Lan suddenly stepped forward and knelt on the sand, Zhou Mubai was taken aback, and Shen Lan said: "Your Highness, I beg you Your Highness will go with you!"

The faces of the eight guards of the Eastern Palace all changed, and Qu Bin even showed an angry expression. Shen Yan bowed to the Eastern Palace Guards for his younger brother, and said in a loud voice: "It's not that my brothers can't trust you, it's just that before leaving Beijing, I promised Rui Concubine, the place where the battlefield is slaughtered, no matter when and why, you must not be away from His Highness, and you must protect His Highness." He knelt down towards Zhou Mubai's robe and said: "Your Highness, the final general will be with Prince Rui's residence immediately. Then go to Ji County, and I will live up to His Highness's great trust. I beg Your Highness to agree to take Shen Lan to Ye County." After saying that, he leaned over and kowtowed.

Zhou Mubai looked at them coldly for a moment, and said in a cold voice: "You two disobeyed the military order. Although there was a reason for the incident, punishment is inevitable. I will settle accounts with you after Quyang is relieved. Get up, Shen Yan will take people to Ji County, and Shen Lan will go with Gu Ye Jun."

The two were overjoyed, kowtowed again, got on their horses, and the two teams parted ways.

The author has something to say: Thank you for your support.Happy weekend~