Early in the morning, the sun had just risen.
In the backyard of the Du family.
Du Qi had already packed everything up long ago. According to Du Qi's plan, he would travel light. He would wear the golden silk soft armor under his shirt, carry the hidden arrows in his sleeves, a dagger, a hundred treasures pouch, etc. That would be enough.
However, there were two women at home. One was from his mother's Jeong Clan, who stuffed half the carriage with food and clothes. The other woman was Qianxue, who also prepared many pastries, as well as some necessary medicine.
The things that the two women stuffed together were enough to fill up the entire carriage.
When Du Qi was about to leave, the two of them looked like weeping pear blossoms, making Du Qi feel uncomfortable. Under the instructions of his mother's Jeong Clan, Du Qi finally got rid of the two. He then sat on the carriage and left with Mordor and Liu Jian.
The two of them were there to take care of Du Qi's daily life.
The two carriages left quickly, and soon arrived at the north gate of Chang 'an City.
Outside the north gate, there was a group of people.
It was Zhangsun Shunde and his men.
Zhangsun Shunde was close to fifty years old, but he was tall and sturdy, a typical burly man of the north. Even so, Zhangsun Shunde did not look old. He looked very energetic.
Zhangsun Shunde came from the Zhangsun Clan, and was Zhangsun Wugou's uncle. During the Sui Dynasty, Zhangsun Shunde was just a small guard. In order to not participate in the war of Goguryeo, Zhangsun Shunde fled to Taiyuan and became Li Yuan's follower.
When Li Yuan started the war, Zhangsun Shunde became a general in the army. He fought in the east and fought in the west, making many contributions. In the end, he was promoted to the Left Valiant Guard General, and was conferred the title of Duke Xue. When he was young, Zhangsun Shunde was unwilling to go to Goguryeo, but now he was quite dignified.
There was a group of soldiers beside Zhangsun Shunde.
They were the guards of Zhangsun Shunde and Du Qi.
Du Qi stepped forward and cupped his hands, "Du Qi greets Great General Zhangsun."
In history, Zhangsun Shunde stood on Li Shimin's side. After all, Li Shimin fought in the east and west on the battlefield. Many generals in the army have a good relationship with Li Shimin.
When Zhangsun Shunde saw Du Qi, he nodded and said, "Erlang, there's no need to be so courteous. You're a famous literary giant in Chang 'an. You don't have to be like this in front of this old man. "
Du Qi shook his head and said, "This time the diplomatic mission to the Turks is only divided into the head envoy and the vice envoy, there is no literary genius."
Zhangsun Shunde smiled.
Although Du Qi was famous for his talent, he was not arrogant. Even Zhangsun Shunde was rather impressed.
Zhangsun Shunde said, "Let's go!"
"Great General Zhangsun, please!"
Du Qi waved his hand. After Zhangsun Shunde boarded the carriage, he returned to his own carriage and hurried along with the diplomatic group.
For Du Qi, it was actually not difficult for him to go on a diplomatic mission.
After leaving Chang 'an, the group headed north. After leaving Gyeonggi Province, they entered Hedong Province in the north. Du Qi and Zhangsun Shunde's final destination was Daizhou in the north of Hedong Province.
After entering Daizhou, they went north through Yanmen Pass, entered Shuo Province, and then entered the region of the Eastern Turks. After the group entered Hedong Road, their speed slowed down slightly.
It was July.
Although the weather was still hot in July, it was much cooler at night.
Du Qi and Zhangsun Shunde were still in Puzhou, which was the southernmost part of Hedong Province. Puzhou was far from Daizhou and could not be considered a border, but it was rather prosperous.
Because they had been hurrying along, they did not find a village to stay in at night, so they found a rundown temple for the night. The accompanying soldiers were standing guard outside.
Du Qi and Zhangsun Shunde rested in the temple.
While Du Qi was resting, he saw that Liu Jian was already busy. He was not cooking at night. Instead, he had bought two chickens from a village on the way and was preparing to cook Beggar's Chicken at night.
Liu Jian's cooking skills were excellent.
In his carriage, there were all kinds of spices for cooking. The Beggar's Chicken he made tasted very good.
Du Qi felt that it was normal, but Zhangsun Shunde had never tasted Liu Jian's dishes before. Zhangsun Shunde's face was full of surprise when he tasted the Beggar's Chicken. He exclaimed, "Delicious, really delicious!"
"It's really delicious!"
As Zhangsun Shunde spoke, he quickly swallowed the food.
His eyes were full of joy.
The taste was so good that Zhangsun Shunde felt very comfortable eating it. When he was full, he burped and stroked his round belly, his face full of satisfaction.
Du Qi's side was also full.
Liu Jian served Du Qi before starting to eat. After all, he had been busy and had to satisfy his stomach.
Zhangsun Shunde looked at Liu Jian and said with emotion, "Erlang, your attendant is really good at cooking! His cooking skills are rare in the world. I've lived for decades, and this is the first time I've eaten such delicious food. "
Du Qi said, "If General Zhangsun likes it, when we return to Chang 'an, you can arrange for the chef in your residence to come here. I'll have Liu Jian teach him cooking skills. Although he can't reach Liu Jian's level, he's not far from it. "
"Thank you very much."
Zhangsun Shunde's face showed a bright smile.
He could eat Liu Jian's food along the way. Just thinking about it made him feel very good. At this moment, there was suddenly a battle cry outside the ruined temple.
A soldier quickly came in and reported, "General Zhangsun, something bad has happened. There's a group of people outside the ruined temple. There are nearly sixty people on the other side, all dressed in black. Their killing methods are very fierce. There are only thirty or so soldiers outside. It's very likely that they won't be able to stop the enemy's attack. "
Zhangsun Shunde's expression suddenly changed greatly.
What was going on?
Someone had attacked them.
One must know that they had just entered Puzhou of Hedong Province, and there was still a considerable distance to Yanmen of Daizhou, the northernmost Hedong Province. Now that they had encountered an assassination attempt, who knew what would happen later?
Zhangsun Shunde stood up and said, "Let's go. Let's go take a look."
Then, he looked at Du Qi and said, "Erlang, you stay in this ruined temple. Don't leave."
Du Qi shook his head and said, "General Zhangsun, just give the order. No need to worry about me. I'll take care of my safety. Besides Liu Jian, I also have Mordor. Mordor is highly skilled in martial arts. There won't be a problem. "
Mordor was tall and sturdy. Even sitting in the ruined temple, he looked like a small mountain.
With him, Du Qi's safety was assured.
Zhangsun Shunde said no more and went straight to the ruined temple's entrance. Du Qi followed behind, standing behind Zhangsun Shunde to observe the situation. In the dark of night, more than sixty black-clothed warriors were sprinting outside the ruined temple with sabers in hand.
At the entrance of the ruined temple, the soldiers brought by Zhangsun Shunde were defending with all their strength. They didn't take the initiative to attack. Instead, they chose to defend against the attack of more than sixty people.
Although Du Qi didn't participate in the battle, he could see the situation in front of him.
More than sixty people cooperated with each other very well.
The killing was even more fierce. Even though the soldiers brought by Zhangsun Shunde were not weak, under the fierce attack, they gradually fell into a disadvantage.
The soldiers gradually couldn't resist.
Du Qi frowned and said, "General Zhangsun, we're besieged by these black-clothed men. I'm afraid we're in danger."
Zhangsun Shunde's face was also gloomy. He had a sword in his hand at some point. But Zhangsun Shunde didn't come out for the time being. He shouted, "I'm Zhangsun Shunde, the General of the Tang dynasty. Who are you? How dare you attack the officials of the Tang dynasty? Could it be that you want to rebel? "
"Everyone has the right to punish the corrupt officials of the Tang dynasty. Kill!"
A shout came from among the black-clothed men.
The leader of the black-clothed men had brazenly ordered to continue the killing. As time went by, there were less than twenty soldiers outside the ruined temple, but there were still more than fifty black-clothed men.
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