Chapter 353 Building a Pass

In the early morning, Xue Bai woke up in his tent and opened the curtain to see that it was foggy again.

It was not the gray haze he had seen before, but a dreamy fog that diffused from the primeval forest. It was hazy and made the forest look like an elven kingdom.

The composition of the miasma is complex. The most influential one is malaria caused by the bites of various poisonous insects. Now in October, there is also a miasma caused by various corpses and feces.

Xue Bai has been able to figure out some of the rules of the formation of smog miasma. At night, the dew gas is heavy and the poisonous gas sinks. When the temperature rises during the day, the poisonous gas rises. According to officials who have visited Nanzhao, it is often invisible in the early morning.

You must wait until the smog miasma dissipates at noon. You must close the doors and windows when sleeping at night, and do not take off your clothes to prevent the smog miasma from invading. If you get up early and go on the road, you must eat well or drink more to resist, otherwise you will easily get sick.

For this reason, he asked Na Lanzhen to order the march to be delayed later to delay the encounter with more Tibetan and Nanzhao officers and soldiers.

When he camped last night, he chose a sandy beach. He asked his soldiers to cut more firewood, light a bonfire, and prepare big leaves to fan the wind. After he got up, he did not let Li Fei Yuanli order the march, but asked his soldiers to march.

They barbecued and rested around the campfire.

For fear of exposing their flaws, no one spoke. The oppressive atmosphere caused by this habitual silence had the greatest impact on the morale of the army. Xue Bai did not encourage the soldiers to speak, but he calmly imitated Tubo from Li Fei Yuanli.

language.

"This place is called 'Dago Langhou Mountain'. What does 'Wang' mean?"

Li Fei Yuanli scratched his head and said: "I don't know, it's probably the mountains. The Baiman language is somewhat similar to the Chinese language, except for some words."

Xue Bai said in Tubo: "I heard that the Liuzhao was difficult to govern, partly because of the language barrier. The Wuman were scattered in the mountains and forests. Among them, the Baiman and the Mengshezhao barbarians had their own language. So, the Tang Dynasty chose to support the Mengshezhao?

"

Li Fei Yuanli was a rough man and didn't know much about these things, but he was very interested in how to conquer Liuzhao and thought about it seriously after hearing the words.

Gong Jiezan came over at this time and shouted in a condescending tone: "Why can't you do it?!"

"The princess didn't give any orders."

Xue Bai agreed, looking past Gongjiezan and looking at Paga who was following behind.

Pajia was secretly observing Xue Bai just now. He felt that this "Li Qian" did not look like a slave. Instead, he had the aura of pointing the country like a prime minister, like a Tang court official. So he thought about why a Tang court official appeared.

With the princess? Where did the original minister of bodyguard go?

A bold idea popped up in his mind, and Paga was horrified... The next moment, the two of them looked at each other.

Xue Bai's eyes seemed to be able to see through people's hearts. Paga subconsciously avoided his eyes and unconsciously shrugged his shoulders out of fear.

"Bloody slave." Gong Jiezan scolded Xue Bai, "It's not your turn to speak here."

Xue Bai actually smiled when he heard the word "slut", and Paga felt inexplicably that he was smiling at him.

Nalanzhen came out of the tent and asked, "What's going on?"

Gongjie praised: "Princess, it's time for us to set off."

Nalanzhen did not answer immediately, but looked at Xue Bai's face. She knew that Xue Bai's plan was just to distract the Tubo people and buy time for the Tang army to attack Taihe City. However, the Tang army was not familiar with the roads.

If she could have arrived at the Tubo camp earlier, she might have had a chance to stop it.

Knowing that Xue Bai didn't want to leave as soon as possible, she tested his bottom line and pretended to hesitate: "But... okay then."

"Let's set off." Gongjiezan immediately turned to his soldiers and shouted.

When he looked again, he saw that the more than 60 people who were escorting the princess to the south were motionless. They immediately cursed: "The princess gave the order, but you still don't get up?!"

Xue Bai said: "Why do you force the princess?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Fei Yuanli stood up, walked behind Na Lanzhen, and glared at Gong Jiezan in a protective posture.

Gong Jiezan said in surprise: "Did I force the princess?"

"Princess." Li Fei Yuanli asked, "Is he forced to stay still?"

Nalanzhen said: "Yes."

"Princess, what are you doing!" Gong Jiezan stamped his feet angrily.

Xue Bai then spoke and said: "Princess, why not wait until noon and the smoke miasma clears before setting off?"

"good."

Nalanzhen turned around, walked aside, chatted a few words with Xue Bai in a low voice, and suddenly ordered: "Bring the slave called 'Pig Shit', I think he is quite smart, he followed me in my tent

Doing things outside."

When Paga heard this, he couldn't help but shuddered and said hurriedly: "I am the Prime Minister's man."

"Princess, won't your words help?" Li Fei Yuanli shouted, asking someone to go over and bring Paga to him.

Not long after, through the thick fog, the sound of horse hooves could be heard in the distance. It was reported that Nanzhao officials who were waiting upstream to welcome the Tibetan princess had arrived.

Nalanzhen was pleasantly surprised, secretly thinking that this time she finally did not let evil people like Xue Bai get their wish. If she could escape a little, she could let Gongjiezan and Nanzhao officials work together to defeat this small group of Tang troops.

The sound of horse hoofbeats was not urgent, and a team slowly came out of the mist.

Xue Bai stood by the campfire and watched, thinking that they deserved to catch the miasma in such a hurry.

Li Fei Yuanli walked up to him and whispered: "There are nearly a hundred people in total, twenty or thirty armed with bows and swords, more than fifty servants, and more than ten officials."

"knew."

~~

Over there, Gongjiezan had already stepped forward to greet him and asked in Tubo: "General Yang, why are you here?"

"I was away for the past two days. I learned that the princess was crossing the river downstream, so I hurried over."

"General Yang is interested...Princess, this is General Yang Luodian of Nanzhao."

"General Yang, you have worked hard all the way." Na Lanzhen deliberately took a small step forward, avoiding the Tang soldiers behind her, and asked: "Since you know that there is a ferry downstream, why don't you arrange for someone to guard it?"

"The princess doesn't know something." Yang Luodian said: "It looks like you can cross the river there, but it is very dangerous. If you are washed away by the river, the lower reaches are full of cliffs. There is no place to go ashore. There is only a big whirlpool called '

It's a sinkhole. If passing ships get close, they will be sucked into the whirlpool."

"So it's so dangerous." Nalanzhen patted her chest and said, "Fortunately, I didn't encounter any when I crossed the river yesterday, but I wonder what happened to the soldiers and horses who escorted me south?"

As she said this, she turned her eyes and glanced at Xue Bai in a demonstrative manner.

Xue Bai ignored this boring provocation.

Although he is not a local, he has been to the Jinsha River once or twice due to work reasons in his previous life, and he specifically visited these ferries where "the golden sands and water beat the clouds and cliffs are warm", such as Longjie Ferry, Hongmen Ferry, and Jiaoping Ferry.

Qiaojia Ferry. Because of this, he dared to give Wang Zhongsi advice. The place where Wang Zhongsi crossed the river yesterday is not yet a ferry. It gradually became Longjie Ferry after the Song and Yuan Dynasties. It was not easy to cross the river, but with the revolution

The bag can naturally speed up the time for the Tang army to cross the river and avoid being swept away.

However, when crossing the river, Xue Bai had already left with Na Lanzhen, and we did not see whether the subsequent crossing of the river went smoothly.

As for Yang Luodian of Nanzhao, he must not have been absent for the past two days, but he was eager to see the Tibetan army suffer heavy casualties, so he took advantage of the situation and lent his boat to them to cross the river.

When the three parties meet, each has its own thoughts.

"If the princess is worried," Yang Luodian said, "Should I arrange for more boatmen to go..."

"No need." Xue Bai didn't wait for Nalanzhen's answer, and stepped forward and said, "The princess has to rush to Langqiong to see the Prime Minister, so there is no need to delay her."

Yang Luodian asked: "Who are you?"

"The slave beside the princess, Li Qian."

Yang Luodian didn't understand why a Tubo princess who came for marriage would bring a handsome man with her. Was it because she didn't want to give Nanzhao face?

Gong Jiezan rolled his eyes and said: "General Yang, you have come all the way, how about you come to my tent to rest first?"

"That's it...Princess, please allow me to retreat temporarily."

Xue Bai waited for them to leave and immediately asked Dejimedo to take Nalanzhen back to the tent. He deliberately followed Gong Jiezan and Yang Luodian for a few steps and listened to their conversation.

"Even the princess can see that even if Nanzhao is fortified and the country is clear, the key crossing point should be guarded by someone."

"The barbarians live in the mountains and forests, and they have no salary, so how can they guard it? It doesn't matter, Shangguan and Xiaguan have been built, and the Tang army cannot attack..."

The two people gradually walked away, and Xue Bai couldn't hear what they said next.

He stopped and thought that "Shangguan" and "Xiaguan" should refer to "Longshou Pass" and "Dragon's Tail Pass".

But before leaving Chang'an, he had not seen any trace of the existence of these two gates in any official document from the imperial court. He even asked Li Linfu, Zhangchou Jianqiong, and Xianyu Zhongtong, but none of them knew about the existence of these two gates.

"We are about to be exposed." Li Fei Yuanli asked in a low voice, "Should we strike first?"

Xue Bai nodded and muttered: "It's not that we have been exposed, it's that they will definitely get rid of me."

He found that the identity he pretended to be wrong at the beginning this time was too easy to arouse the disgust of officials from both Tibet and Nanzhao.

It's just that he was considered a face-shou in Chang'an, but he acted like a face-shou in Nanzhao. Maybe this is... Xue Bai shook his head and quickly recovered his mind.

Turning around again, I saw Paga standing aside with an uneasy look on his face.

~~

Yang Luodian walked into the tent and immediately asked: "Who is the man next to the princess?"

Gongjiezan didn't answer.

Some things are just like that, and there is no easy answer.

He pondered and said: "For the sake of Tubo and Nanzhao, how about you and I killing him?"

"You killed a slave because of Tubo's sincerity." Yang Luodian said lightly, "What does it mean if I kill him?"

"I am a servant of Tubo. It is not easy for me to take action without the princess's orders." Gongjie praised: "I mean, kill secretly. Is there any narrow road from here to Langqiong that is suitable for taking action?"

"have."

The two agreed that it was noon and the fog-like smog gradually dissipated. The team set off and headed northwest to Langqiong.
To be continued...