Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 12 All the way east

"Captain, Ma Cheng and the others won't run away, right?"

"What nonsense!"

Outside the east gate of Jiuquan City, Zhang Chang, sitting in a horse-drawn carriage, could not help but speak, which earned him a lesson from Liu Jilong.

It was almost the hour of Chen (7 o'clock) at this time. Three horse-drawn carriages were parked outside the city gate, pulling food, tents, armor, arrows and other supplies. Next to them stood the horses ridden by Zhang Chang and Liu Jilian.

The two of them had already put on their armor and were well prepared with long and short weapons.

When traveling in this area west of the Yellow River, one has to be on guard even on normal days, not to mention that at this time they were pulling three carts of supplies, like children carrying gold bricks through the market.

"Boss!"

Suddenly, shouting was heard in the corridor.

Zhang Chang and Liu Jilong looked and saw Zhao Qian and Ma Cheng coming out of the city leading slow horses.

Jiuquan City is not a prosperous city. The street scene composed of dirt roads and earthen houses is just like the rural areas in the 1920s and 1930s.

From the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors to the 1960s, farmers' lives did not change much. The only changes were their clothing and hairstyle.

"Come and put on armor!"

"Hey!"

Liu Jilong greeted them, and the two of them hurriedly led their horses out of the east gate.

As the two of them appeared, the other seven people arrived one after another, and no one was late.

Liu Jilong personally put on armor for them and took out a bag: "This bag contains dried meat. Eat some if you get tired on the road."

"Yes!" Everyone smiled. Seeing this, Liu Jilong also looked up at the gate tower of Jiuquan City.

After a long silence, he slowly said, "Let's go!"

At the command, the third group set out on the road eastward.

The Hexi Corridor of this era was much wetter and warmer than in later times.

There are grasslands all over the ground at the foot of the Qilian Mountains, which gradually emerge after stretching two or three hundred miles to the north.

Because of this, many Uighur tribes that were defeated in the northern desert gathered together and came to Hexi and the Western Regions to roam.

Their arrival, coupled with the civil unrest in Tubo, caused the situation in Hexi to get out of control.

Of course, it was precisely because of their arrival and the civil strife in Tubo that the Shazhou army had the opportunity to revolt and return eastward.

"Hu...hu...hu..."

After the third group walked about ten miles to the east, it took them nearly two hours, and everyone on the walk was panting.

Even though Liu Jilong had arranged for people to take turns driving the horse-drawn carriage to rest, wearing nearly 50 kilograms of armor still made people very tired.

"Sit down and rest for a quarter of an hour!"

Liu Jilong was in good physical condition and walked without getting out of breath, so this weight was nothing to him.

He asked everyone to sit down, and he led the horse and looked around.

The Qilian Mountains in the south are magnificent and continuous, like a row of sharp soldiers standing on this western land.

The grasslands in the north are lush and green. When the wind blows, it is like a green blanket being shaken, rising and falling.

If all this magnificence were to be preserved in the future, it would definitely be enclosed and turned into a scenic spot.

But in this era, behind this magnificent scenery lies a danger that forces people to be cautious.

Nomadic tribes such as the Longjia, Huihe, and Emu occupied grasslands far away from the city. Although this place was only ten miles away from Jiuquan, Liu Jilong could not relax.

He secretly calculated the time in his mind. As time passed, he turned around and said, "Let's go!"

Without a moment's delay, the third group of people stood up one after another, put on their helmets, armor, and carried their loads forward.

In Hexi, except for the city, which is safe, you need to be careful of enemy attacks in other places.

As for who the enemy is, it can be said that everyone who is not on our side is an enemy.

People's hearts are fickle. As Liu Jilong and his companions walked another ten miles, although the brothers of the third group did not say anything, Liu Jilong knew that they were becoming increasingly impetuous.

"Water the horses and put on the saddles."

After walking for more than twenty miles, seeing that noon was approaching, Liu Jilong began to instruct everyone to put saddles on the slow horses.

"Good Le!"

When they heard that they could ride horses, their previous impatience instantly disappeared and everyone rushed to get busy.

As they were busy, except for the three people driving the horses, everyone else put saddles on the horses and climbed on them skillfully.

"Let's go. We still have to travel at least another thirty miles today..."

Shaking the reins, Liu Jilong called on everyone to move forward.

There was no galloping as imagined, but instead the rider rode leisurely forward.

Even so, everyone whose legs had been rested couldn't help but enjoy it.

Gradually, the previous silent and impetuous atmosphere disappeared, replaced by everyone talking and laughing. However, unlike them, Liu Jilong always kept an eye on all directions and listened to all directions.

As the sun gradually set, Liu Jilong estimated the time and then raised his hand to signal everyone to stop.

After making a judgment, he turned around and said to everyone, "We are about to enter the territory of the Long family. Be careful and string your bows."

After hearing his instructions, everyone felt nervous and then dismounted to string their own bows.

Those who can join the third group are those who Zhang Huaishen considers to have good horsemanship, and horsemanship is usually inseparable from bows and arrows.

Although the Han people under Tubo rule were strictly controlled, the herding slaves were still able to carry some soft bows to protect the herds. Therefore, although the archery skills of the people were not very good, they were not bad either.

Holding the bow in one hand and the reins in the other, the third group continued to move forward under the leadership of Liu Jilong.

It turned out that Liu Jiming did not let them go for no reason, because not long after they held their bows and moved forward, they met the Long family.

"Beep--"

A shrill whistle sounded, coming from the north, and a gray herd was moving.

After the whistle sounded, dozens of Long family herdsmen approached Liu Jilong and his men on horseback with bows in hand.

"alert!"

Liu Jilong gave instructions and then urged his horse forward.

"Captain!" Zhang Chang shouted worriedly, then shook the reins and went with him. Seeing this, the others also made gestures to follow.

"Listen up!" Liu Jilong scolded everyone and continued to urge his horses forward. He stopped his horses fifty steps in front of everyone and stared straight at the dozens of Long family herdsmen.

This group of people came aggressively, and only stopped when they got closer and saw that Liu Jilong and his companions were wearing armor.

They were less than ten steps away from Liu Jilong, and both sides could see each other clearly.

Liu Jilong took a quick glance and saw their situation clearly.

There were about thirty people, except for the forty-year-old man in the lead who wore a breastplate, the rest were wearing cloth clothes made of stitched animal skins.

As for weapons, this group of people were armed with soft bows and scimitars, and no blunt weapons.

Seeing their appearance, Liu Jilong immediately looked towards their herd.

His action immediately alerted the other party. The leading man rode out and said in Tibetan: "This is our pasture, please leave."

After nearly a hundred years of deep cultivation by Tubo, the common language in Hexi has long become Tibetan.

Liu Jilong also replied in Tibetan: "I see you are coming here aggressively, it doesn't seem like you are just trying to drive us away."

"We didn't see your flags and thought you were Tibetans. Now that we see them, the misunderstanding is cleared up." The leading man wanted to settle the matter peacefully.

Although their number was three times that of Liu Jilian and his men, everyone in Liu Jilian's group was wearing armor.

If the two sides really fight, they probably won't even have a chance to escape.

"I thought they were a group of sheep, but they turned out to be jackals." The leading man felt a little regretful.

"Humph!"

Facing the man's words, Liu Jilong snorted coldly.

The third group’s flag was tall and conspicuous; even if you couldn’t see the people, you could still see the flag.

It was obvious that these guys wanted to take advantage of the situation to rob us, but they didn't expect that they were wearing armor.

Liu Jilong was sure that if his side had not been wearing armor, this group of guys would have rushed over in one breath, captured them as slaves or killed them, and looted all the goods.

This is the rule of Hexi. It is impossible for Zhang Yichao to recapture the city while offending tribes such as the Long family, Huihe, and Umu outside the city.

"We offended you, so how about we compensate you with a sheep?"

The leading man was very afraid of Liu Jilong and could only cut his own flesh to settle the matter.

When Zhang Chang and others behind Liu Jilong heard that there was a whole sheep, their eyes lit up.

Liu Jilong didn't want to cause any trouble outside of the mission, so he said to the man, "Bring the sheep here, let's go."

"Okay!" The man was afraid that Liu Jilong would go back on his word, so he agreed and gave instructions to his attendants.

To his left the man rode out on his horse and then galloped towards the herd.

Not long after, Liu Jilong saw him coming back carrying an old sheep.

Although it was an old sheep, it still had at least forty or fifty kilograms of meat. Seeing this, Liu Jilong rode his horse forward and reached out to take the sheep with its limbs tied up.

He turned his horse sideways to glance at the thirty-odd people, which made them feel uneasy.

"Suzhou is now part of the Tang Dynasty. If there are any thieves on the trade route in the future, we will certainly surround and suppress them."

After leaving these words to remind everyone, Liu Jilong turned his horse around and left with the sheep in one hand.

Looking at his back, the man in his forties felt a little annoyed, but he didn't dare to lose his temper.

After a while, he led his men to drive the herd away and left the place reluctantly...

(End of this chapter)