"What! Does the King of Shu mean to go to the former site of Qiu Hai Kingdom?" The old guide led by him looked shocked when he understood what Xu Mu meant.
"Exactly." Xu Mu replied calmly. Again, what he cared about most was the perfect trade along the Silk Road.
There must be some reason for Qiu Haiguo to be able to thrive for seventy years. But it was too long ago, and there is no record, so it is better to take advantage of now and take a closer look. If there really is an oasis or something, then build a transit station near this place to protect the merchants from both sides.
"I dare not tell you anything else. If you just want to lead the way, I will give you thirty taels of gold as a reward."
There must be a brave man under a heavy reward. After several guides looked at each other, they finally gritted their teeth.
"Okay, I and I are willing to take King Shu there."
"You don't need too many people." Xu Mu thought for a while and said. If things don't work out, you'll have to come back and continue your journey. There's no need to put all your eggs in one basket.
"What's your name?" Xu Mu pointed at the old guide.
"Back to King Shu, my name is Shen Zong." The old guide responded hurriedly.
"Shen Zong, just go with me. The remaining guides can stay in the camp. I will have another reward."
According to Xu Mu's plan, this time he took advantage of the opportunity to go to Qiu Haiguo's former site and only took a thousand people with him. Those who stayed behind followed Chao Yi's order and waited behind this large sand dune to return.
"My lord, it will be dangerous to go here. If not, I will go for a round on my lord's behalf." Chao Yi looked worried after listening to Xu Mu's instructions.
"No need. Since I plan to go there in person, I must have my own considerations. Chao Yi, you stay here and remember to raise the smoke as a mark."
Chao Yi wanted to persuade him again, but seeing Xu Mu's resolute look, he could only respond silently.
Xu Mu turned around, glanced at Zhuge Fan who was still drowsy, and sighed in his heart.
…
At dawn the next day, without too much delay, Xu Mu asked Chen Sheng to mobilize a thousand people, along with 300 camels and 500 horses, and began to slowly walk towards the former site of Qiu Haiguo.
"Don't worry, my lord, I have checked the water bag and dry food, and there are no problems." Chen Sheng rode over and responded to the order seriously.
"Brother Mu, can I help you look after the water bag and dry food?" Si Hu came over happily, with a serious look on his face.
"No!" Xu Mu and Chen Sheng said simultaneously.
On the sand sea, as the scorching sun burns, the sand gets hotter and hotter, and the temperature gets higher and higher. When I looked up, I saw that everything was surrounded by yellow, with no vegetation or even half a pond.
As a guide, Shen Zong kept identifying the direction based on his memory.
"The King of Shu doesn't know. I heard that there was a sand ghost at the old site of Qiu Hai. In the past, merchants passed by and accidentally got closer, so they hurriedly avoided it."
Xu Mu smiled without any disturbance in his heart. However, he kept an eye on it and ordered his two old assistant generals to write down the way back.
As we kept walking, the day passed by in a hurry, and it was dusk in a blink of an eye. The temperature in the desert suddenly became freezing due to the cooling of the sand.
Xu Mu could only set up camp temporarily and follow the old method of making camels and horses form a circle. It's a pity that we didn't encounter the stone forest along the way. Otherwise, it would have been more comfortable to camp in the stone forest.
"Chen Sheng, arrange for manpower to patrol at night."
Xu Mu has never forgotten the habit of patrolling at night.
As an old member of the team, Chen Sheng understood the significance. He immediately took the order, selected dozens of people, rode horses and wore thick robes, and began to patrol around ten miles around.
"Shen Zong, how far is it probably?"
"It's at least a day's journey away. Don't blame me, King Shu. I haven't been here for a long time. Even before, if I accidentally got closer, I would quickly go around it."
"I understand, Shen Zong, thank you for your hard work."
This time, Corporal Li Xian moved Shen Zong even more and expressed his gratitude several times.
Just as Xu Mu and Shen Zong continued to discuss the route. Suddenly, Chen Sheng and his people hurried back from outside.
Even the camels and horses around them began to become restless and kept grinding their hooves, as if they had foreseen something terrible.
"My lord, something bad is going to happen! I'm going to bump into a pack of sand wolves!"
Xu Mu stood up in shock, and Shen Zong next to him turned pale for a moment.
"King Shu, although we encountered sand wolves along the way, there were only a few of them. They couldn't cause a wolf disaster. Maybe, maybe -"
"Is there an oasis nearby? That's why we can raise a group of sand wolves." Xu Mu thought for a moment and then pointed out what Shen Zong wanted to say.
"Exactly, exactly what it means."
"If nothing happens, you can stay in the camp. To be honest with you, I have not dealt with wolves once or twice."
"Si Hu, don't sleep, get the ax quickly."
Xu Mu frowned. After Chen Sheng and dozens of people ran back, he jumped on his horse and looked up. Sure enough, he saw a large black beast shadow in the dark night under the white moonlight.
"Tie up the camels and horses and form an array immediately!" Xu Mu raised his sword and shouted angrily.
Under the wind and sand, the order was quickly passed down, and thousands of Shu soldiers quickly formed a formation after fixing their horses and camels.
Those in the first row start with the gun and shield. It's a pity that we are so far away that it is not suitable to carry a large shield, so we can only use a light leather shield as a guard.
Behind the shield formation, there were the Xishu infantry bows ready to go. Following General Pi's order, they set up their bows and twisted their arrows. As soon as the wolves came into range, they immediately shot the arrows over.
"Brother Mu, there are so many of them, there must be hundreds of them! I just don't know if the heads of these wolf meats have been eaten." Si Hu licked his mouth, carried the giant ax, and walked into the shield array.
"Brother Sheng, build more fires around the camp. In addition, you lead a hundred people, take care of the horses, camels, and water bags and dry food."
"Lord, don't worry!"
Chen Sheng held the knife with one arm and strode back.
"Prepare."
Seeing the wolves getting closer and closer, the dust rising higher and higher, the howling of the wolves getting louder and louder, and the faces of the Shu soldiers began to show expressions full of fighting spirit.
"Fiya——"
Following the roar of an old general, the archers behind him quickly threw waves of flying arrows into the wolves.
Under the pale moonlight, angry wolf howls continued to sound.
"The second formation of walking bows!"
Following the order, another wave of flying arrows dropped without interruption. Countless wolf figures fell in the middle of the journey.
But in the end, a strong and fast wolf rushed to the shield formation——
"Raise your shield!"
Even though the defense was not strong, they still raised the leather shields without fear of death.
The horses and camels in the rear, except for Xu Mu's General Feng, could not help but neigh and were extremely frightened.
"Assassin!"
Behind the leather shield, iron spears pierced out one after another, stabbing the sand wolves that rushed in the first wave until they kept wailing miserably. But among them, there were also Shu soldiers whose leather shields were bitten into pieces and then carried away, with blood stains dragged all the way.
"kill!"
An old captain from Shu roared at the wolf's mouth, raised the iron gun he was holding tightly, and stabbed it upward——
The man and the wolf all rolled on the sand and died in a pool of blood.
