Young Master Hei took the lead and galloped ahead, followed by three horses racing abreast, followed closely by five thousand horses neighing and exerting their strength, scrambling for the lead.
After leaving the open area in the west of the city, the official road narrowed and could only accommodate five horses marching together. The team was immediately stretched to five thousand cavalry, with the head and tail stretching for several miles.
At this time, except for Changsheng, who was still calm, everyone else was in a very excited mood. Although Datou and others had experienced actual combat, this was the first time they fought side by side with so many cavalry. As the rebels who had just returned, the cavalry were also filled with excitement and emotion. One moment, they were worried and frightened about facing the ever-victorious Chang Sheng, and the next moment, they turned into Chang Sheng's subordinates, following him. The young princes of different surnames went on an expedition to the Western Regions. Such a huge change made them feel like they were dreaming.
Changsheng only seemed calm at this time, but in fact he was very scared. If the Qingyang defenders had not surrendered without a fight, but chose to resist stubbornly, then he could only bite the bullet and massacre the city, because people have no faith and will not stand. You must do what you say, otherwise you will not be able to win the trust of the world in the future. However, if you really massacre the city with ruthless hands, then you will become a complete butcher, and you will definitely not be tolerated in the world and will be stinked in the history books.
Fortunately, my reputation is loud enough to be able to suppress these rebels who are licking their own blood. This shows that as a person, you still have to cherish your reputation and cherish your reputation. When the critical moment comes, it can really come in handy.
Since Li Maozhen immediately moved eastward after occupying Qingyang, the prefectures and counties to the west of Qingyang were not affected by the war, and the post station was not damaged. Seeing a large number of cavalry rushing over, everyone at the post station was instantly frightened. There was a large number of dead souls, and their duty was to welcome them and send them away. Naturally they knew Hu horses, and they also knew that all the cavalry under Li Maozhen's command were Hu horses.
Just when Changsheng led everyone to the inn, the postmaster and the postmen in the inn ran out in panic, holding a piece of white linen and shaking it at Changsheng and others.
Raising the white flag represents surrender. This move began in the Qin Dynasty and has been practiced since ancient times. Seeing the ugly behavior of the postmen who were greedy for life and fearful of death, Datou was instantly angry. He jumped off the back of the sculpture and fell down sharply, facing the man waving linen cloth. The people in Yi Cheng were punching and kicking each other, "What the hell do you want to do? Who are you surrendering to? Why did the imperial court support you bunch of useless cowards?"
Everyone was beaten in a daze, and everyone was confused. Fortunately, Da Tou quickly revealed his identity, "Keep your eyes open and see clearly that this is the heroic prince of the imperial court, not a rebel who has committed rebellion."
Hearing Datou's words, Yi Cheng and others realized that it was their own people who came. They were frightened and ashamed, and hurriedly knelt down on the ground, kowtow to apologize.
Naturally, Chang Sheng would not have the common knowledge with them. He waved his hand and ordered them to carry water and drink their horses. The same thing was done by different people and the nature was different. For ordinary soldiers and common people, it is pity to see that they are defeated and can protect themselves. It turns out that after all, they have not received any favors from the court, so they cannot have too high demands on them. But it would be unforgivable for generals and officials who were receiving military pay and royal rations to defect and surrender in the face of battle, because they had the obligation to contribute and sacrifice their lives for the imperial court as they received their salary from the imperial court.
Although Chang Sheng was not as knowledgeable as Yi Cheng, Datou was still angry. Seeing Yi Cheng still holding a white cloth in his hand, he raised his eyebrows angrily and kicked Yi Cheng who had just climbed up. Despite his short stature, his strength However, he kicked the Yi Cheng down on the steps. He must have knocked out his front teeth. When the Yi Cheng got up, his mouth was already full of blood.
Changsheng naturally ignored these trivial matters. The previous galloping exposed Huma's lack of leg strength. Huma was indeed a good horse, but it was not as good as a sweaty horse. After running two hundred miles, he was tired and saw that the cavalry could not keep up with him. , Changsheng shouted and asked if any of the cavalry knew the existence of Maka Mountain.
Soon, several middle-aged captains responded, only knowing that Mount Maca is located on the western edge of the desert, on the east side of Khotan.
"Yang Kai, Shi Xuanming, and Yu Yi, the three of you will lead the team to Maka Mountain and wait for orders from there." Chang Sheng shouted an order.
The three of them responded in unison.
Changsheng immediately looked at the other postmen who wanted to kick them in the head, "Okay, stop fighting, let's go first."
"Okay, your lord, please wait a moment. I'll go in first to get some dry food and water." The boss nodded and pushed the postman into the post station.
Not long after, Datou ran out carrying large and small bags. One of the bags was still bleeding, and it must have been Miss Bai's food.
Changsheng didn't hesitate, he immediately got on his horse, shook the reins and went ahead. The big head whistled and called Miss Bai, jumped on it and flew low to follow.
The last time Changsheng went to Khotan, he set out from Tingzhou. When he came back, he rushed to Tingzhou first and took the sweaty BMW before returning to Chang'an. The road he took this time was not the same as last time. The road condition was better and there were many roads along the way. For the Gobi, we don’t need to cross the desert like last time.
The two set off from the inn soon, entered the Gobi an hour later, and then rushed northwest from the Gobi. Along the way, they could see abandoned cities from time to time. These abandoned cities were all small cities, most of which were destroyed in the war, and some were... It was invaded and buried by wind and sand and was no longer suitable for habitation.
Since the road the two of them were taking was not on the Silk Road, they saw almost no people along the way. They could only see a few native people grazing occasionally. The Gobi was different from the desert, and there were still vegetation in some areas.
Although this place is far away from the middle-earth, it is not peaceful. There are many bandits and horse bandits. The two of them did not encounter horse bandits, but they saw many pedestrians and herdsmen who died unexpectedly on the road. Since this area is dry and rainless, the corpses It is not easy to rot, and it turns into a ferocious mummy under the strong wind and the scorching sun.
On a dark night in summer, when night fell and it was already approaching the second watch, an abandoned city appeared in front of him again. Changsheng weighed the calculations in his mind and determined that he could reach Khotan at sunrise if he left for the third watch, so he waved to Datou. , signaling to the abandoned city in front to rest temporarily.
Datou kept driving Miss Bai to a high place, where he could see the situation in the city, "Your Majesty, there is fire in the city."
Changsheng nodded.
This abandoned city had no gates for a long time. After a while, the two of them entered the city from the south gate. The city was not big. After entering the city, they immediately saw a well in the center of the city. Several natives dressed as warriors were drawing water to drink. There were more than a dozen horses tied near the well, and their saddles had been removed and set aside.
The moment he saw those warriors, Changsheng knew that they were horse bandits, because the way they looked at people revealed the unique viciousness and suspicion of desperadoes.
Seeing Changsheng riding towards the well, the bandit who was collecting water immediately shouted loudly to summon his accomplices. Upon hearing this man's shout, a group of strong men holding sharp swords quickly rushed out of the room on the east side of the well. The leader was a man in his thirties. He was tall and thin, holding a long sword with a wooden sheath in his hand. Unlike other horse bandits who were facing a powerful enemy, this man held the sword in his left hand without unsheathing it.
Ignoring everyone, Chang Sheng went straight to the well, got off his horse, bent down and stretched out his hand, and took a sip of water from the barrel. After confirming that the well water was non-toxic, he picked up the barrel and took a few sips, then placed the barrel in front of Young Master Hei.
Others were frightened when they met the horse bandits, but Changsheng did not take them seriously. The horse bandits didn't know why and looked at the leader one after another.
The man with the sword was looking up at this moment, and Da Tou floated to the ground as he looked up. Like Chang Sheng, Da Tou ignored the horse bandits and went straight to the well to hang a bucket to draw water.
Seeing Changsheng and Datou treating everyone on their side as nothing, the horse bandits couldn't help but get angry, but the leader didn't say anything, so they didn't take any action.
At this time, Miss Bai landed not far away on the west side. When she saw the huge golden eagle, the horse bandit's eyes instantly lit up. One of them approached the leader and whispered, "Boss, the dwarf's eagle" It’s a rare thing, and the thin man’s knife is also a good thing, shall we?”
Changsheng and Datou both heard what the man was saying, but ignored it. The two of them had experienced too many bloody storms in the past few years. They had never experienced any big storms, so naturally they would not take these dozen horse bandits seriously.
"Don't seek death," the emaciated man reprimanded in a low voice, "These two people have dragon-like eyes and tiger-like eyes, and majestic weapons. They are not ordinary people at first glance. It is our destiny not to make trouble for us. Put away your weapons and follow me." Go back to the house and don’t seek death.”
Hearing the man's words, the group of horse bandits hurriedly put away their weapons and quickly followed the man into the house.
After everyone left, Datou smiled and said, "Haha, this guy is quite discerning. He just said what he said to us on purpose. He used nice words to avoid us, lest we take action."
Chang Sheng rinsed his face with water and did not answer the call.
"It's also their fate that shouldn't be cut off," Big Head said. "If they are blind and want to take advantage of us, today is the day they die."
"How can there be so many blind people in the world?" Changsheng said casually.
There are also several relatively complete shabby houses to the west of the well. Datou found a place to stay temporarily, and then called Miss Bai to come down and drink water with a wooden bucket. The golden eagle also needed to drink water, and the golden eagle's drinking posture was very similar to that of a chicken. resemblance.
Before Da Tou left, he took away a leg of lamb from the inn, and it was only then that he took the time to feed it to Miss Bai.
There was a lot of hay piled up in the broken house where the two rested, which should have been used by the bandits to feed the horses. However, because it was last year's hay, the black master didn't like to eat it. Fortunately, there was a lot of bread in Datou's baggage. He also knew that Mr. Hei liked to eat fine grains, so he fed him flour cakes.
After taking good care of the two horses, Datou lay on the haystack and took a long breath. He was really tired these past few days and was injured. He was very sleepy at this time.
Although he was extremely sleepy, but when he saw Changsheng in a daze, Datou still said comforting words, "My lord, you don't have to worry too much. Duke Ji Guo is not ordinary smart. Even if he can't handle the difficult things he encounters, he can still handle them by delaying them for a few days." , we will definitely make it in time."
After saying that, Changsheng nodded. In fact, he was in a daze not because he was worried about not having enough time, but because he was worried that he didn't know how to face Ni Chenyi. He would definitely meet Ni Chenyi when he went there, but he really didn't know what to say to Ni Chenyi after meeting. What……
