"I would rather die than betray the princess."

"Okay." Nalanzhen said, "I didn't want to leave my father's side at that time because I sensed that some of the nine ministers wanted to plot rebellion."

"Princess, are you going to let me down my guard and find another chance to escape?"

"You don't believe me either. If I wanted to escape, I would just escape."

Lun Ruozan lowered his voice and said: "Wang Xiongcai has a rough plan, who would dare to have different intentions? It must be the Tang army who carefully spread the rumors of alienating the king and the nine ministers. The princess must not fall into the trap. It is better not to mention this matter in the future."

Nalanzhen said: "Qinghai is using troops, Nanzhao is also using troops, and the army around father is empty. In this way, I promise to follow you to Nanzhao. You write a letter home to your grandpa and ask him to keep an eye on the nine ministers.

.”

"Princess really won't run away again?"

"We've all come this far." Nalanzhen said calmly, "There is no way back."

Within a few words, other knights arrived, and the two stopped talking. Nalanzhen took the reins and returned directly to the tent.

Lun Ruozan looked at her back, his eyes not moving away for a long time.

~~

The sun sets slowly over the snow-capped mountains, and the tribesmen on the grassland are still busy.

Suddenly a horse came running back, and the knight on the horse still had an arrow feather stuck in his body.

"Look, chief!"

Zhujie Gonpo heard the call and rushed out. He recognized that this was a tribesman who went out to buy salt with his son. He quickly stepped forward and pushed away the others, asking: "Where is my son?"

"Chief, we met Luo Zhui. He was leading the Tang Dynasty's caravan and wanted to... want to kill us."

"Where is my son?!"

"Dead...dead."

Zhujie Gonpo couldn't believe it, but the scene in front of him no longer allowed him to disbelieve.

He stood there with a sullen face digesting the news, then suddenly ran home, took out a single knife, and headed straight for Luo Zhui's house.

Soon, roars, begging for mercy, persuasion, and loud cries resounded from the grassland... The chaos lasted for a while, and Zhujie Gonpo had ordered people to tie up Dejimeduo and her two children and wanted to kill them.

They sacrificed his son.

"Chief, please slow down, we haven't found Luo Zhui yet."

"Yes, if we kill him now, Luo Zhui will have no scruples..."

Everyone in the tribe was discussing when they suddenly saw a group of knights arriving, but it was Lun Ruozan and his personal entourage.

A relative came forward on horseback and asked what happened. Lun Ruozan listened and said, "Let them hand over these criminals to us."

"Minister, her husband killed my son!"

"They are also the subjects of Tubo and the king's property." Lun Ruo praised: "Who allowed you to dispose of it?!"

Zhujie Gonpo was extremely dissatisfied with this, but in desperation, he had no choice but to hand him over.

Lun Ruozan looked calm and took Dejimedo and her children back to the camp.

He thought for a while and went to Nalanzhen's tent in person to explain what happened.

"Princess, I remember that your maid died of illness on the way here. I was thinking that if you need someone to serve you..."

"This is the internal affairs of the Yak Tribe. You should not interfere." Nalanzhen said through the curtain: "The leader of the Yak Tribe died his son, and you didn't even give him a chance to take revenge. Just because of your pitiful kindness.

, can’t you even tell which one is light and which is heavy?”

Lun Ruozan was stunned, a little embarrassed, and asked: "Then...shall I send the person back again?"

"Where is the majesty of the king?" Nalanzhen said: "Let's set off as soon as possible."

"Here..."

The next day, this team of Tibetan envoys prepared to continue their journey south.

Zhujie Gonbu watched the team go away and had nothing to do about Dejimedo being taken away. Fortunately, he knew that the road to Nanzhao was dangerous and it was impossible for these women and children to arrive alive.

For him, the most important thing right now is to find Luo Zhui and avenge his son.

~~

Heading east from the Yak Division, bypassing the towering snow-capped mountains and passing through dangerous passages, you can faintly hear the sound of rushing water.

That is the Dadu River. The mountains are high, the cliffs are dangerous, the river is deep, and the water is fast.

"Chief, over there!"

The body fell below the cliff.

Several tribesmen finally climbed down with ropes and brought the body up. Zhujie Gonpo looked at it and avoided it for a moment, and then looked at the body with wide eyes.

The cliff was not low, the body had been broken, and three arrows were stuck in the chest.

Zhujie Gonpo was in great mourning. He leaned down and pulled out the arrow from his son's back with his own hands. The arrow pulled at his son's flesh and blood gushed out. But as a father, he could not gushing out at this time.

tear.

Several other people were shot dead together with his son, but all the arrows on their bodies had been pulled out. Only his son's body fell under the cliff and there were still arrows left.

The arrow is very heavy and the arrowhead is tempered to be extremely sharp.

Did the guards carried by Tang Shang, whom Luo Zhui helped lead the way, actually have such sharp weapons?

"Cross the river and go have a look."

There is no bridge on the Dadu River, so you can only cross the river by boat where the current is gentle.

Zhujie Gongbu originally just wanted to follow the traces of Luo Zhui. However, after he crossed the Dadu River and walked for a while, he found that the footprints in the valley were messy and the vegetation blocking the road had been split open.

"That's not right. Why did the business traveler go this way?"

Doubts arose in his mind, and when he carefully observed the traces left by that group of people, he became even more surprised.

Judging from this sign, there were actually thousands of people passing by, and at least thousands of people. Counting the excrement left by the horses, it was even harder to tell how many people there were.

How does this look like a caravan?

~~

In the river valley, teams are marching in an endless stream.

Because there was another narrow road ahead, only one person could pass, and the speed slowed down again.

Xue Bai also stopped, scratched his legs, and leaned against the stone wall to rest for a while.

There were several shouts in the distance, and when I looked up, I could see the branches and leaves in the crown of the tree shaking a few times.

From his perspective, the movement was very small, but in fact there was another confrontation over there.

After a while, Li Sheng squeezed in from behind, nodded and smiled when passing Xue Bai, and ran towards Wang Zhongsi.

When Ge Shuhan was in Chang'an, he wanted to persuade Xue Bai to go to Longyou. One time after drinking, he sent Li Sheng to escort Xue Bai. The two chatted for a while and mentioned that Li Sheng killed the enemy general on the city wall with one arrow and won "ten thousand".

The title of "human enemy".

He was indeed not lying. During this march, almost all his arrows were in vain.

Of course, in this kind of terrain, if the enemy is standing outside the shooting range, there is nothing he can do.

At this time, Li Sheng rushed to Wang Zhongsi, performed a military salute and said: "I met the Tibetan tribesmen and shot four of them, but two of them were too far away and could not be pursued."

"Fleeing north?"

"yes."

"Keep exploring."

They were walking on the territory of Tubo, and there were many people and horses. It was of course impossible to completely block the movement. But they were going to attack Nanzhao, so as long as the news did not spread southward, it would be fine.

Generally speaking, no tribesmen who saw the Tang army would think of running to Nanzhao to report the news.

As for the Tibetan encirclement, under such a terrain, it would be difficult for the Tibetans to mobilize their troops to surround them in a short period of time... unless they happened to encounter a group of Tibetan troops blocking the front.

What really worries Wang Zhongsi is the attrition and baggage on the road.

Seeing that the team would not be able to pass this narrow road for a while, he called his staff and guides over.

While waiting, Wang Zhongsi shook his head and tried to regain his consciousness.

Ever since he entered the mountains of western Sichuan, he had always felt uncomfortable and suffered from severe dizziness and nausea.

There were many people with the same symptoms as him. Everyone thought that they were hit by the miasma just after setting off, and their morale plummeted. However, Xue Bai said that it was called "altitude sickness" and that it would gradually get better. Whether it was good or not, they could only grit their teeth and keep walking, but

Morale has become somewhat stable.

"Come on."

Wang Zhongsi turned around and saw that everyone had arrived, except for the Tibetan guide who had been conquered and was resting on the other side. He then said: "We haven't crossed the Dadu River yet. Even if we are discovered by the Tubo people, they can't do anything."

But once we cross the river, the situation will be different. When do you think it is appropriate to cross the river?"

"The timing of crossing the river is critical. If we cross the river too late, the Tibetans may discover us. If we cross the river too early, marching on the west bank of the Dadu River will be far less safe than on the east bank."
To be continued...