The tornado dispersed, and then heavy rain poured down, completely washing away the world that had just been messed up by the tornado column.
The young man fell from the sky, safe and sound. Ah Da over there was happy, slapped Lao Yin on the shoulder, and shouted: "It's okay!" Suddenly he remembered Lao Yin's throwing stones just now, and quickly retracted his hand, angrily. He moved to the side.
The young man ignored the heavy rain pouring down on him, wiped the rain off his face, and put his hair into a bun at the back of his head, looking back and forth in an attempt to find the person who was sending him a message in the storm. But besides myself, the undulating sand dunes and rocks, and the horse that had just run out and turned back, there was no one else on the vast Gobi Desert.
Ada shouted "This way, this way" under the boulder, obviously not knowing the true intention of the boy's search.
Seeing the young man walking back, Lao Yin said: "Stop talking."
Ah Da, who had seen Old Yin's unique skills of flying rocks, nodded quickly. For a Shou Zhuolang like him who only knew "Barracks Bodybuilding Boxing" and "Eighteen Wrestling Chapters", Old Yin had already become a figure in his eyes. There is an omnipotent martial arts master who can pick leaves and hurt people in a moment. How can I provoke him without being quick-witted when I still have a good time? He nodded immediately and vowed: "I didn't see anything."
The rain was getting heavier and heavier, as if a curtain had been opened across the sky and the earth. The young man got into the short stone cave, wiped the rain off his face, and asked, "Did you see anyone else around here just now?"
After asking, I felt a little regretful. After all, it was so stormy just now that I couldn't see anything from a distance of more than ten feet. How could these three people pay attention to whether there was anyone outside when they had been in the cave?
Ada answered: "With that wind, who can be there?"
The young man looked at these three people, and then quickly dismissed the thought in his mind. There was a naive child of eleven or twelve years old, an old man with a grin showing his black teeth, and a man with brute strength who could only practice kung fu. The children of the military camp don't look like the legendary experts.
He no longer dwelled on this topic, but the young man still doubtfully thought about this opportunity that he regarded as a chance encounter.
"Are you all okay?"
"Very well." Ah Da patted his chest, "As long as you are fine, we will be fine."
Ada's words caused Lao Yin to cough.
Thinking that Old Yin was trying to ease the awkward atmosphere, the young man said sincerely, "I will explain the situation to the prefect when I get back and reduce your sentence."
This time Ada was really embarrassed and simply shut up and stopped talking. Old Chief Yin chuckled and said, "That's not what I meant, Master. Don't think too much."
The young man had other things on his mind and naturally didn't think too much about it. He said again: "While it's raining, can we hurry back?" His tone was suggestive of discussion, but it didn't sound like he was bossing around at first.
Having said that, the other three people had no other opinions. Leader Lao Yin whistled loudly, and the horse kicked to the entrance of the cave, lowered its head and leaned in.
The four of them took out their bamboo hats from their horseback robes and continued southward in the rain.
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There was no conversation all the way, and after changing horses twice during the day and night, the four of them arrived at their destination, Ruoqiang Tunbingcheng, at Shenshi on the second day.
Ruoqiang has many mountains, including the Altun Mountains, which divide it into two parts. There are many towns in the north of the mountain and many tribes in the south. Further south, there is the towering Kunlun Mountains, which is thousands of miles away. It not only separates the Ruoqiang, but also separates the Western Region from the mysterious Tibetan Buddhist country, Xibo. Ruoqiang is different from Loulan. It belongs to the Kyushu vassal and is autonomous domestically. It only pays tribute to some yaks, antelopes, and rare things like black cranes and snow chickens every year. They are protected by Kyushu, but they do not accept the direct jurisdiction of Kyushu.
Tunbing City is the second largest city under Ruoqiang's jurisdiction compared to the capital Dianhe City. When Kyushu unified the north and south of the Yangtze River, the founding emperor Tianwen Emperor, nicknamed the "War Madman" by later generations, went on a non-stop campaign in the Western Regions. After capturing Loulan, he set up camp as a temporary command camp, and then divided his troops into two groups, one in the south and one in the north. The army on the north route encountered the most fierce resistance, but the army on the south route went smoothly and was invincible. In order to accommodate the army on the north route, Emperor Tianwen ordered the army on the south route to be stationed in Ruoqiang, and this military garrison city got its name.
The old Yin leader was grinning and boasting on the main road of the garrison city, talking about the glorious achievements of Emperor Tianwen when he conquered the Western Regions, how everyone surrendered wherever he went, and how he planned a strategy to win thousands of miles away. Immediately, Old Yin's head was spitting, and what he was talking about was ridiculous, and his dry old face turned red when he got excited. If the young man hadn't heard from Ada about the old man's bragging problem, he would have even I really thought he had participated in the battle that was called the "Battle of Thunder" by later generations.
Juvenile power is treated as a joke to pass the time. If it weren't for Lao Yintou's idle work in the mountains and seas, and without Ada's unabashed flattery, the journey of hundreds of miles would be very boring.
Wu Liuqi, the catcher of Xiao Shou, was full of admiration. Under the influence of Lao Yin's spit and Xingzi, he was sometimes nervous and sometimes happy as he followed the storyline, and he cooperated very well.
Ah Da also lacked interest and kept talking a few words here and there, which seemed very abnormal to the young man. Ah Da is a straightforward person who can do whatever he wants, just like he does with a young man. Although Ah Da doesn’t know his specific identity, he can more or less guess it from the prefect’s words and deeds. He had a general position, so he supported the young man all the way. Whether he was talking or doing things, he would immediately execute them as long as the young man looked at him. He himself said that he just wanted to take good care of the young man and go back to the prefect to commute his sentence whenever he pleased. Regardless of whether it is due to utilitarianism or other reasons, Ada will never hide anything he has to do. It's just that he didn't look down on Old Yin Boss's boasting ability. The young man didn't dare to say how accurate he was at spotting people, but based on his understanding of A Da in the past two days, this Shou Zhu Lang should have been with him a long time ago. Old Yin Boss was having a heated exchange of words with each other. The young man was so quiet that he couldn't figure out what was going on.
Over there, the old Yin leader was still taking the trouble to drink wine and talk to his only audience about the glory of this military garrison city. Here, Ada and the young man were riding side by side and said: "Master, do we want to rest here?" Let’s rest and regain enough energy before we talk?”
"Changes will happen later." The young man muttered, "It has been two or three days. Who knows whether these horse thieves will harm Zhuangyuan."
"Would you like to inform the defenders here?" A Dayou suggested.
After thinking about it, the young man shook his head and said: "Forget it, it is a subordinate vassal state after all. This is my personal matter. If I really take action, it will not have a good impact on the dynasty."
Ah Da later nodded in confusion. Although he didn't quite understand the reason, he could still understand that this matter was a trivial matter and could not be elevated to the level of the country.
Behind him, the old leader Yin urged his horse forward and said: "Although the subordinate vassal states are autonomous, they can't refuse this little help."
The environment in which the boy grew up made him involved in such diplomatic matters at an early age, and the internal reasons cannot be explained to outsiders.
When the dynasty agreed to the independence of the Western Region vassals, there was an unwritten rule. If the army was mobilized, it must be reported to the court, and if there were more than 300 people, the prince of the vassal state must be used as a hostage. I'm just here to save people, why do I need to mobilize people to this extent?
Furthermore, the young man also had another level of concern, which was just that he didn't want his family to be the only one in the world.
For various reasons, the young man would not and would not want to explain everything to them. Many things were not done as a last resort, and if necessary, they were made known to everyone.
Leader Lao Yin didn't say anything when he saw the young man, and said, "Why don't you let Xiao Wu go back to Loulan to find some manpower? We don't know the situation of this group of horse thieves. With the few of us, no one else can rescue them, so we can get involved ourselves." "
The young man knew that Old Chief Yin was actually worried about Wu Liuqi's safety. After all, no one could predict what would happen next, and it was indeed dangerous to have such a child by his side.
The young man still had his own considerations and said: "No, it takes another day and night to come and go, which is too time-consuming. Let's talk about it then."
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At the beginning of the afternoon, the four of them found the abandoned capture camp they had learned about, hid their horses properly, and went up the mountain.
The abandoned guarding camp is halfway up a peak in the Altyn Mountains, surrounded by dwarf pines and cypresses. The old leader Yin said that Altun means cypress in the Ruoqiang language. The surrounding mountains seemed strange to the young man. There were green grass at the foot of the mountain, dense woods on the mountainside, and white snow on the top of the mountain. It was really hot at the bottom and cold at the top. Climbing up the mountain could freeze you to death.
The outer perimeter of the Shouqiao camp is built with huge stones, and most of the stone houses inside have collapsed. There are still some wooden squares and rolling stones used for training by army soldiers. The old leader Yin said that this should be the camp where the dynasty's army was stationed before Ruoqiang became independent. Later, when Ruoqiang became independent and the dynasty withdrew its army, the camp was naturally abandoned. However, he did not expect that it would become a base for horse thieves.
The three of them were hiding not far from the Shouzuo camp. They saw three guards standing at the gate of the Shouzuo camp. They were dressed in rags and patches. Ada muttered again: "We have been taking things by force all day long." Robbery, the clothes are really shabby."
The old boss Yin on the side started to show off again: "You don't understand this. The richest people among these horse thieves are really not those in the base camp. The richest people are those who fight with real swords and guns outside. They robbed I will first seize 20% of the gold and silver treasures, and then hand over the rest. Maybe the boss will reward them more when he is happy, and they will lose a lot after going back and forth. Their boss will seize a little more, and then hand it over. , once it comes to the hands of the people above, the ten taels of silver are reduced to five taels. These five taels also have to ensure the food, clothing, housing and transportation of people like them who only talk and do nothing. How much do you think will be left in the end? Let’s put it this way, The boss of this group of horse thieves is Zhong Kui, the horse thieves leader who is well-known in Jiannan Longyou, including our Western Region. He may not be as rich as the few horse thieves we met the day before. Who cares when you have reached this level? No matter how much money you have, what you care about is your reputation." The last sentence said by Old Yin Boss is thought-provoking.
Not only did Ada not make fun of Old Yin Boss this time, but he also nodded in agreement and agreed with Old Yin Boss's remarks.
The young man also felt that what the old man said made sense. After all, he was a human being who had lived for fifty or sixty years. Anyway, he must have crossed more rivers than he had traveled.
The young man would definitely be able to listen to this kind of experience.
Old Yin took out the pipe and pot again, but did not light it. He pinched some tobacco leaves and put them in his mouth to chew. He washed down another sip of wine, smacked his lips, and said in a contemplative voice: "This is all experience, you guys still Young people, learn from it."
Ada secretly rolled his eyes.
The sun was tilting to the west. The young man calculated the time. The Western Region was no better than the Central Plains. The time had to be delayed by an hour. The sun was tilting to the west in front of him. It should have been dark even in the Central Plains.
"Ah Da, go around to the back and see if you can figure out what's going on here. Regardless of whether you can figure out what's going on here, Xu Chu must come back. Mr. Yin, you and Wu Liuqi are waiting here. I'll go take a look around. ." The young man made arrangements, turned around and walked away with his waist down. After walking a few steps, he turned around and said, "Be careful with everything. I have to take you back after I brought you out."
"Hey." After the young man had walked a few steps, Old Yin called out to him and said, "The sky is not as bright as it is clear. You need to gather your energy to borrow energy."
The young man was stunned.
"I heard this from General Shi in the camp. He is a man who has practiced martial arts." Lao Yin, the old man, looked at A Da and Wu Liuqi with proud eyes, and said with pride in his tone, "This It's about dealing with people, why didn't General Shi tell you about it? It's not because I know how to be a good person, General Shi regards me as one of his own. You are all still young, this is called playing both sides, do you understand? You all should learn from this, and you won't suffer."
Ah Da felt helpless and turned away without paying any attention.
The young man also turned around and rolled his eyes.
