Chisang Yangton looked at Lu Dongzan lost in thought and couldn't help feeling anxious again. It was the first time since the march and battle that he saw the prime minister being so calm and not impatient.
Daxiang, who has always been vigorous and decisive in making decisions, seems like two different people from the old man in front of him.
No matter how Chisang Yangton thought about it, Lu Dongzan became more and more interested in the commander of the Tang Dynasty.
Now the two sides are in a stalemate, and neither side has a way to defeat the other with overwhelming advantage.
If they continue to consume at this rate, neither the Tibetan merchant caravans, the Tang cavalry, nor the Tang "bandits" will get the expected results.
Lu Dongzan smiled, with a hint of arrogance and cunning in his eyes, and said lightly: "Raise the flag of the Tubo Prime Minister."
“Great Prime Minister…” Chisang Yangton looked at Lu Dongzan in shock.
If the Daxiang flag was raised, it would be tantamount to admitting defeat to the disguised Tang cavalry.
This means that he has no intention of engaging in battle with them, and no intention of avenging the more than one hundred warriors who died.
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This means that they intend to pass through here and acknowledge the actual rule of the Tang Dynasty here.
"One step forward does not necessarily mean victory, and one step back does not necessarily mean loss. As long as we can meet their leader, our trip will not be in vain, even if we lose these goods, so what?" Lu Dongzan was quite calm, his bright eyes sparkling with wisdom.
If they could retreat in order to advance, they could find out who the supreme ruler of the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions was. This would definitely be much more valuable to Tubo than today's goods.
Halfway up the mountain, Wei Tuqi was left with fifty people to monitor the Tubo camel caravan. Li Hong had already rushed to the valley entrance with the others to meet up with Quan Yi.
He was not afraid of Tubo's reinforcements, because there were already signs of Tang troops deployed in Dafeichuan, southeast of Tuyuhun, and Tubo's focus at this time should be there.
He was not even afraid that the Tibetan camel caravan would go back. As long as they went back, these people would definitely become confused and panic. Even in the middle of the night, he was confident that he could wipe them out completely.
"Master, they have sent an envoy." Quan Yi ran to the quickly set up tent and spoke inside.
"Messenger? Come in first." Li Hong frowned.
Are they going to negotiate peace? Are they not going to continue the secret war? He just got interested.
After receiving the order, Quan Yi walked in, holding a jade pendant in his hand respectfully and handed it to Li Hong.
"Aunt Wencheng? Are you kidding?" Li Hong was shocked. The word Wencheng on the jade pendant and the texture of the jade pendant were obviously not forged.
Moreover, as long as it is something of the royal family, it will be easy to identify in Li Hong's eyes by indicating that it was purchased specifically for the royal family by the supervisor.
"Where is the messenger?" Li Hong asked after accepting the jade pendant.
"Sir, he has left, leaving only a message saying that their commander wants to meet with you." Quan Yi said.
"Where?"
"It's right in front of the campfire." Quan Yi pointed to the outside of the tent.
Li Hong then stood up and paced back and forth in the tent, wondering what this old man Lu Dongzan was up to!
Is this a surrender? Will Lu Dongzan surrender? It's better to believe that a sow can climb a tree.
Li Hong waved his hand, then pointed at Hua Meng and said, "Go out and check to see if they have raised the flag and see who it is."
The most feared thing was that Lu Dongzan would show his own Tibetan flag, so that he would not be able to trap him here.
After all, he is the prime minister of a country. Even if this place is sparsely populated and uninhabited, his identity is still there.
Killing him secretly would be easy to explain, even if it was said that he was bitten to death by ants while passing by, the Tubo Zamp would accept it.
But if he was killed by his own group of bandits after raising the flag, he would have difficulty moving forward in the Western Regions.
This is an unwritten rule, and there are only three or five people in the world who can enjoy this treatment.
Just like me, if I reveal my identity as the crown prince of the Tang Dynasty, no matter whether it is Tubo, Baiyi Daqin, Tokharistan, Dabolü, or Xiaobolü, they will no longer dare to kill me at will. At most, they will imprison me and use me in exchange.
Because killing oneself would not only bring about a war that would consume the entire nation's strength, but would also cause other countries to support the victim.
Therefore, Lu Dongzan has now turned danger into safety and is in an invincible position. Now it depends on how he responds.
Li Hong walked out of the tent. The moonlight appeared from behind the clouds at some point. The pure white moonlight was so bright and clear that it even made people feel that they could touch the moon as long as they climbed the mountain in front.
Looking down from a high place, I saw shadowy figures in the distance. After a while, a pile of firewood collected by the Tibetan merchant caravan appeared, with the fire in the middle as the center, and several more piles of firewood were piled up one after another.
As the figures flashed, eight or nine bonfires were soon lit, instantly illuminating the area as bright as day.
A flag slowly flew over from the direction of the camel caravan. When it approached the campfire, one could see the words "Lun Dongzan" written in Tang and Tibetan on it.
"Lun" refers to the great theory of Tubo, and "Dongzan" is naturally the name of Lu Dongzan. It is obvious that he wants to force Li Hong to come out and meet him.
The flag slowly moved to a place not far from the central campfire, where it was inserted into the ground by a Tibetan man with great effort. The Tibetan man then turned around and ran towards the camel caravan.
The night wind blew the flag, and the three words "Lun Dong Zan" written in Tang and Tibetan languages sparkled brightly under the light of the fire.
Li Hong looked at the flag in silence, his eyes filled with depressed contempt: "Shameless, too shameless, how can the old man be so shameless!"
In Li Hong's opinion, this is like two children fighting. One of them can't win and starts crying immediately to attract the attention of others, so that the other child can't attack violently.
"Who among you knows Lu Dongzan?" Li Hong threw down the telescope in his hand.
A man of about thirty years old and a gorgeously dressed Tibetan old man slowly walked to the central fire, and then began to drink leisurely.
Banmei, Xunlan, and Mangzhong looked at each other, and followed Quan Yi in shaking their heads to indicate that they didn't know him.
Hua Meng jumped out from nowhere like a wild animal, stood in front of Li Hong and said, "Master, I've checked it out. There are really only two of them. The others are still waiting in the same place. There is nothing unusual."
"What a scoundrel! This old man is playing scoundrel with me." Li Hong shook his head and sighed, "I'm here to fight him, but he just showed his flag and told me he doesn't want to play anymore? Have you ever seen such a scoundrel? Ah? Is there such a scoundrel?"
He was cursing in front of the tent, not remembering at all that he was the first to act like a rogue.
Both of them used their own tactics to retaliate, preventing the other party from successfully executing the established strategy and unexpectedly disrupting the other party's steps.
"What should we do now?" Quan Yi looked at the two people sitting by the fire, drinking and chatting leisurely, and said, "Sir, how about I help you deal with it?"
"It's useless. That old scoundrel Lu Dongzan can see through it at a glance. There is a qualitative difference between a commander and his subordinates. You have to practice more. Who knows, you may have the aura of a superior in the future." Li Hong had a serious expression. He looked at the fire and suddenly a sly smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
With a cunning and sharp eyes like Lu Dongzan, no matter how well Quan Yi conceals his identity, Lu Dongzan's eyes can easily expose his identity.
"Hey, Banmei, bring my equipment here." Li Hong said lightly with a smile still on his face.
Li Hong took off his helmet, and then with the help of Xunlan, he changed his hair into a ponytail and tied a black bandage on his forehead.
Banmei took out a few peacock feathers, which were given to her by An Xiaohe, and carefully inserted them diagonally on Li Hong's head.
"Don't wear this for now. I'll put it on when we're almost there. This way I won't be able to see the road clearly and fall again." Li Hong pushed the blindfold up, revealing one of the blindfolded eyes.
A horizontal sword is naturally indispensable, and he also carries a bow and crossbow on his right waist. Unlike the leather armor of Tubo, Li Hong and his men wore iron armor wrapped in cotton cloth.
Each armor leaf is firmly sewn inside with thick cotton and linen cloth.
In this way, especially when it rains and snows in winter, the armor plates will not be frozen by the cold, causing the wearer to be unable to move or use his limbs flexibly.
And in summer, the scorching sun and unbearable heat will not make the temperature of the armor leaves too high to burn the soldiers.
These are precisely the advantages of the leather armor of the Tibetan cavalry. Just like the Mongolian cavalry that later swept across the world like a whirlwind, they relied on their nimble mobility and the light leather armor on the soldiers.
"Quan Yi, lead the way." Li Hong packed his things, looked at the bandit uniform on Quan Yi, nodded with satisfaction and said.
"Master..." Banmei, Xunlan, Hua Meng and Mangzhong were very anxious. They could not let the Crown Prince go no matter what.
"You can't go. Once you go, my identity will be exposed quickly." Li Hong looked at Hua Meng and Mangzhong specifically.
"How about I and Xunlan accompany you?" Banmei said bravely.
This is no joke. There is no question of whether or not to contradict His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. The fact is that no matter what, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince cannot be allowed to go alone.
Li Hong waved his hands impatiently and searched for a long time before he realized that Bai Qi had disappeared.
"Where's Bai Qi? He hasn't come back yet?" Li Hong looked around, and suddenly a huge wolf head appeared in the grass, with two eyes flashing with a faint light, which made people feel scared.
Finally, Li Hong brought Bai Qi and Quan Yi. Quan Yi was carrying a fat sheep that had just been roasted, and several jars of grape wine were hung on both sides of Bai Qi. The two men and the wolf slowly walked to the fire in the center.
In places where the fire could not reach, Banmei, Xunlan, Huameng and Mangzhong, each holding a sniper crossbow, looked around vigilantly.
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