night.
very dark.
The people in Ma Tou Town have also fallen asleep. The air is still filled with the persistent smell of horse, cattle and sheep urine, and suddenly there are other smells that no one can smell.
Unless you are a foreigner, or a foreigner with a very sharp nose.
Wang Cheng is such a person.
Originally he was lying on the bed and had fallen asleep, but the smell that stung his nose was so familiar to him that like a conditioned reflex, he jumped out of bed.
"fire?!!"
Wang Cheng's nose twitched twice, and he was very sure that it was the smell of fire.
Moreover, for it to spread from the outside into the room, it must be a very big fire!
Seeing Wang Kaile sleeping soundly across the street, he put on his coat and flashed out of the room.
As soon as he left the room, Wang Cheng saw a raging fire burning in the southwest, but because it was still hundreds of steps away, most of the people nearby were awake.
Wang Cheng looked at the direction of the fire and couldn't help being surprised: "It's at the racecourse!"
Originally he didn't want to meddle in other people's business, but both Lao Ma and Li Qiansheng at the racecourse gave him a favor, so he thought it would be better for him to go and have a look.
After a few flashes, he had appeared on the street, and suddenly there was the sound of horse hooves on the ground.
Then, he saw horses running onto the street, and the crowd was like a tidal wave.
People who were sleeping nearby were awakened and opened their doors and windows to see what happened.
"There are so many horses running out, it's crazy!"
"Look, there's water over there at the racecourse!"
"Damn, it's such a big fire! Why did it burn so hard?"
…
Wang Cheng also wondered in his heart, there shouldn't be such a big fire in an open place like a racecourse.
Seeing more horses rushing onto the street and no one could walk away, he jumped to the roof and jumped on the roof.
After a while, he appeared around the racecourse.
The racecourse was already in chaos, nearly half of the stables were on fire, and almost all the horses were gone.
The owners of various horse shops were busy asking their clerks to catch the horses, but the fire was so strong that the horses were frightened and they could not catch them at all. Instead, many of the clerks were injured.
Wang Cheng came to Lao Ma's shop.
Lao Ma was sitting on the ground with his hair disheveled, his eyes dull, and he didn't even notice his arrival.
"Boss Ma, what's going on?" Wang Cheng asked,
Only then did Lao Ma notice Wang Cheng. Suddenly, he cried loudly: "My horses! They are all gone! A stupid fire burned down my shop!"
"Burn down your shop?"
Wang Cheng was stunned for a moment, and then quickly asked: "Who burned down your shop?"
"Li Lezi, who else could there be besides him?" Lao Ma cried.
"Him?" Wang Cheng was depressed.
From his understanding, the two bosses should be playing double roles for each other. There is no reason to burn down Lao Ma's shop, and there are other shops in it.
"You stupid old horse! Which of your damn eyes saw me burning down your shop?"
Li Qiansheng limped over at this time, his face blackened by the flames.
As soon as Lao Ma saw him coming, he didn't know where he got the strength. He jumped up from the ground, grabbed Li Qiansheng's neck with both hands, and shouted: "What a bastard! Who else could have been burned if you didn't do it? You fucking motherfucker" I’m jealous because I saw that my business has been better than yours these past two days!”
Li Qiansheng grabbed the old horse's neck with his backhand and said angrily: "How little money do I need? You used your fucking brains and burned down the entire racecourse. Do I still live?"
"Boss two, please stop now!"
Wang Cheng pressed one person's arm with one hand, forced the two people apart, and said: "The two bosses thought it couldn't be just an accident."
"Absolutely impossible!" The two said in unison.
"Why?" Wang Cheng asked curiously.
Lao Ma explained: "We will arrange for people to keep vigil in each store every night, and there will be one person from each store to patrol the racecourse every hour. It is impossible for any accidents to happen."
Wang Cheng was right when he thought about it. Each stable at the racecourse put some hay and horse feed. These two things are the most flammable, so each horse shop will definitely keep strict supervision on the racecourse.
He said solemnly: "So, someone must have lit this fire secretly."
Lao Ma and Li Qiansheng glanced at each other, and then nodded in unison.
So, who could have set the fire?
Wang Cheng couldn't imagine it, because after all, he had just arrived here and was not familiar with it. He asked the two bosses who they might be, but neither of them could tell the reason.
He rubbed his chin habitually, thinking backwards like solving a math problem.
Suddenly, he looked at the two bosses and said, "What will be the consequences if all the horses in the racecourse run away?"
Li Qiansheng said subconsciously: "Of course we have suffered a big loss! Don't even think about getting better every three to five years..."
"wrong!"
The old horse stretched out his hand to interrupt Li Qiansheng's words, and said with a look of horror: "If these horses run to the west or north..."
Wang Cheng was suddenly startled and blurted out: "You mean people from the enemy country are stealing horses?"
"It's very possible!" Lao Ma nodded.
Wang Cheng's expression changed slightly, Lao Ma's words really awakened the dreamer.
In fact, even if all these horses run away, for the owners of the racecourse, they will lose some money at most. The biggest question is whose hands these horses will fall into!
If, as Lao Ma said, these horses ran to the Xia Kingdom in the west or the Zheng Kingdom in the north, the loss would be too great!
There is a saying in the art of war: A wise general will feed the enemy. If he feeds the enemy for one minute, he will be worth twenty to me.
This means that a wise general strives to seize food and grass from the enemy. One kilogram of grain taken from the enemy on the spot is equivalent to twenty kilograms of grain taken from one's own country; one kilogram of grain taken from the enemy on the spot is equivalent to twenty kilograms of grain taken from one's own country.
War horses are much more valuable to a country than food. There are tens of thousands of horses in the racecourse. Once they run to Xia or Zheng, the loss to Zhou Dynasty will definitely exceed twenty times.
Thinking of this, Wang Cheng flashed and quickly disappeared from the racecourse.
At this moment, the entire Ma Tou Town was in chaos.
Tens of thousands of horses were galloping along the street together, and the whole street looked like it was packed.
More people woke up from their sleep. When they saw so many horses, some people immediately used their own force to get two of them, but they couldn't tell whose horses they belonged to.
As a result, after jumping on the horse's back, I couldn't control it at all. These horses were like crazy.
Not only that, in the collision and friction between horses, the person who jumped on the horse's back could not even get off. Those with poor equestrian skills were knocked off their horses and eventually trampled to a pulp.
Wang Cheng immediately gave up the idea of riding a horse and continued to choose to walk from the roof.
Following the horses, we soon left Ma Tou Town. In front of us was an open area with no end in sight.
When the horse arrived here, it really looked like a fish and a dragon entering the sea, running wildly to the west in a mighty way.
Wang Cheng jumped on the back of a horse, and then rode the horse to surpass him.
After changing several horses one after another, he was getting closer and closer to the front of the herd.
Under the night, dozens of horses were running almost abreast, running ahead of all the horses.
These horses are the winners!
However, there is a person sitting on the horseback of these leading horses. Each one is tall and mighty, with a scimitar hanging from his waist.
"Xiaren?"
Wang Cheng's eyes narrowed. On the way to Matou Town, Zhang Laosan once told him some customs of Xia Kingdom, especially the soldiers of Xia Kingdom.
Among the neighboring countries of the Zhou Dynasty, the Xia Kingdom was the most backward and had the smallest population, but the Xia people were the most brave and adept at fighting, and almost all the people were soldiers.
Every household has weapons, even women and children, because they know very well that if the harvest is not good this year, they will mount a horse with a knife to rob it!
Different from the Zhou Dynasty's standard weapons, many of their weapons are made by themselves. They are also the most common weapon in the Xia Kingdom - the scimitar, the lightest and most useful weapon in cavalry warfare.
Lao Ma really guessed it right!
Wang Cheng clamped his legs on the horse's belly, and his hands habitually touched his waist, but he touched the black sword that the teacher left for him.
He secretly sighed in his heart, it was better to have a gun. In this case, he could kill one of them with one shot.
He could only continue to follow sneakily, and a flying sword appeared above his head.
When he was still thirty or forty meters away from a few people, he injected his mind power into the flying sword.
"call out!!"
The flying sword turned into a stream of light and almost instantly passed through the back of a Xia cavalryman.
The man fell off the horse and was immediately submerged in countless horse hooves.
"He San'er!"
The neighboring companions immediately noticed that one person was missing, but no one took any action.
There are thousands of horses galloping behind, and it is difficult to adjust their heads. They cannot turn back at all. Once they are adjusted, it will be difficult.
"What happened? Why did He San'er fall off the horse?"
The person who spoke was a middle-aged man with a mustache. His face was dark and rosy, and there were two dreadlocks hanging on both sides of his ears. His appearance was obviously different from that of Zhou people.
Xia Bing, who was following him, said, "I guess Lao He drank too much and accidentally fell off his horse?"
"Fuck you! He San'er's drinking capacity is even greater than mine. How could he drink too much?" the middle-aged man yelled angrily.
So what's going on?
A group of people couldn't figure it out.
"Liu Wu, look back!" the middle-aged man said to the Xia Bing beside him.
I saw Liu Wu leaping up from the horse, his feet standing firmly on the horse, as still as loose.
However, he looked for a while and found nothing, so he had to get back on the horse and said: "Boss, I didn't find anything."
"Is it really because I drank too much?" The middle-aged man still expressed doubts.
But when I thought that tonight's matter was of great importance and could not be delayed, I could only suppress my doubts in my heart.
A group of people continued to lead tens of thousands of horses on their way.
"boom!"
Suddenly, another companion fell off the horse. Before anyone could react, he was already submerged under the horse's hooves.
This time, no one thought it was an accident, and all looked at the leading middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man said nothing and made a gesture, and everyone disappeared from the horse.
Wang Cheng, who was following behind, was suddenly startled, and he quickly stood upright from his horse.
But the next moment, a bow and arrow flew over at great speed!
