Chapter 244: War in the Western Regions (Part 2)
(Not revised yet, please check again tomorrow!)
Xiao Yuanfeng looked at the yellow sand in the sky and also fell into deep worry. The people of this city-state have suffered too much, and too many innocent people have paid their lives for it. He can never forget those religious believers. Compared with these cruel horse thieves, at least the horse thieves themselves are not hypocritical.
On the contrary, those who preached doctrines said one thing but did another, causing the originally prosperous Loulan Kingdom to be involved in the quagmire of war.
Loulan State is a relatively small city-state among the countries in the Western Regions. With Loulan City as its capital, its land area is five hundred miles in radius. People living here, farmers do not need to pay taxes, they only need to participate in city-state corvee regularly, while people who are engaged in business need to pay taxes, and the taxes are not very high.
This policy of survival and livelihood has made the people of Loulan very wealthy. Since the poor do not have to pay taxes, there will be no tragic situation of starvation in the fields, and the security in the city is much better. As for the merchants, they don't care about the small amount of tax. Besides, they can't get tax exemption when going to other city-states. On the contrary, the excellent public security level attracts a large number of traveling merchants.
Due to the tight supply of goods, merchants in the Western Regions have always been able to make high profits since ancient times. In other words, if there was no guarantee of high profits, who would brave sandstorms, horse thieves, and wars to do business here?
It is precisely because of the policy guidance of the Loulan City-state that many large traveling merchants from the Western Region countries quickly gathered here, which is also a place that makes many forces jealous.
So three years ago, a group of strangely dressed people came to Loulan City.
They wore exquisite leather armor with various metal decorations hanging on it. These people had gold rings on their ears and noses, even more than one, and some even had them on their tongues.
Loulan City can accept "strange clothes". Anyone who is not half-clothed can enter the city-state, but this group of people obviously has a purpose.
They first settled in the city as doctors, and then began to treat the people in the city for free. This kind of good deed was naturally welcomed. At that time, Xiao Yuanfeng also met with the leader, a young man with a rigid expression.
Xiao Yuanfeng vaguely remembered that the man had a rigid expression. If the two hadn't exchanged a few words with each other, he would have even thought that the other person was a motionless corpse. What impressed him most was that this young man had twelve gold rings on his ears, which looked very eye-catching.
Later, this group of people began to continuously promote their own teachings and encourage people to practice the so-called "Secret of Immortality". They even brought their families and children to participate, and received free rice and noodles.
The countries in the Western Region are short of supplies. Fortunately, Loulan State is a city-state with rich people. Therefore, except for being robbed by a group of people at the beginning, most people still maintained a wait-and-see attitude.
At that time, Xiao Yuanfeng had already noticed something was wrong, and began to investigate the details of this group of people. What shocked Loulan's senior management was that no matter how many people they sent to investigate, none of them returned to report.
In the end, Xiao Yuanfeng had no choice but to let these investigators report their whereabouts three times a day. In the end, it was discovered that these people lost contact after locking the news to the Demon Kingdom to the east. All the spies who could have any trace of the Demon Kingdom disappeared without a trace.
Xiao Yuanfeng finally realized the seriousness of the matter and immediately ordered the expulsion of these strangely dressed believers!
It was also this order that successfully tore off the last fig leaf! As expected, these guys did not leave Loulan Kingdom honestly, but attacked the soldiers who went to expel them, even occupied the four corner towers in the city, and then launched the "formation"!
It turns out that the "Secret of Immortality" that this group of people taught those people before was not a formula for maintaining health at all, but a set of ritual sacrifices. Through this so-called "Secret of Immortality", a trace of true energy was introduced into the practice. In the human body of the "Secret of Immortality", when the formation was activated, the group of people were instantly knocked unconscious by the true energy in their bodies, and began to attack the people around them aimlessly.
Some were biting, scratching, or even holding sharp knives. For a time, the entire Loulan City fell into panic. Crazy people all over the city continued to attack innocent people who were fleeing everywhere. Those soldiers and guards were no longer enough to maintain order.
Xiao Yuanfeng still felt chills running down her spine when she recalled this scene. If she were forced to find one word to describe the scene at that time, it would be "purgatory on earth".
…………Dividing line…………
Wu Li found that Xiao Yuanfeng was lost in thought and did not disturb him, so he took Lin Fenghuo and Lin Lei to the back room. As she just said, this sandstorm does not pose a threat to warriors like them in the chivalrous realm. But no one can be exposed to a sandstorm for a long time, especially a girl like her.
"City Lord Xiao seems to have something on his mind!" Lin Fenghuo picked up his wine bag, unscrewed the stopper and took a sip.
"Yes, the tragedy three years ago left an indelible mark on every Loulan person." At this point, Wu Li paused. She looked at Lin Fenghuo and continued: "So, don't blame them for not Politeness, just... just scared."
It turns out that Lin Fenghuo and others finally escorted Xiao Yuanfeng back to Loulan City a few days ago. You must know that this time they also brought a "bronze statue". It was the bronze statue of the seventy-two saints they visited in the courtyard of Xiaoyuan Academy. body.
Although it is only one of them, it is extremely important in terms of weight and practical significance. Lin Fenghuo and Lin Lei naturally do not dare to neglect it. But just after they entered Loulan City, to their surprise, they did not receive welcome or praise, and even suffered indifference from the people of Loulan Kingdom.
However, Wu Li talked to the two of them a lot along the way, and naturally told them about this kind of thing in advance, so there was no misunderstanding in the end. Lin Lei felt very annoyed by the indifference of these Loulan people, but Lin Fenghuo still persuaded him. After all, he had gone through so much hardship in putting himself in someone else's shoes, and it would be really difficult to convince them that other people would be able to recover. It would take several years to recover. Buffer and heal.
While the three of them were discussing in the inner room, a horn trombone sounded from the city gate to the south.
Wu Li was very sensitive to this kind of signal. The moment she heard the sound of the trumpet, she stood up and disappeared from the house the next moment.
"Don't be nervous. Let's see how they respond first. After all, war is different from ordinary warrior battles. Sometimes if we join in hastily, it will cause trouble for others." Lin Fenghuo said in a low voice.
Lin Lei next to him grinned and said calmly: "I understand this truth, but what really makes me not rush to take action is that there should be decent martial arts masters among those horse thieves, right?"
