It is difficult for both Tubo and Tang to invest too many troops in this area, and it is difficult to achieve a decisive victory in a short period of time. Then the outcome depends on who can bring the countless tribes in this vast mountainous area under their command. Draw on their human and material resources to increase your own strength - mountains are not synonymous with poverty. There are fertile arable lands in the valleys between mountains. Compared with plains, mountains have richer mineral deposits, and mountain residents can also provide quite a lot. livestock products and livestock, and through this mountain road, precious spices from distant Southeast Asia and South Asia can also be obtained.
More importantly, ancient mountainous areas were usually overpopulated areas. Unlike plains residents, mountainous residents did not have to support huge superstructures. Their chiefs, priests, and nobles were far inferior to the squires, bureaucrats, emperors, and princes of the plains. The more people there are, the better off they are. In other words, although mountain residents are generally poorer than those in the plains, the lower classes in the mountains are likely to have a better life than the lower class in the plains, and naturally have more resources to give birth to more offspring. . The rapid growth of the population soon exceeded the support capacity of the mountainous land, so the excess young people left the mountains and went to the plains to find opportunities to make a living - and mercenaries were one of their oldest choices: the Akkadians This is true for the , Scandinavians, and Swiss, and these Qiang and Hu tribes are naturally no exception.
"Song Maodao, are you familiar with this road?" Wang Wenzuo suddenly asked.
"Songmao Road?" Several businessmen exchanged glances. The oldest and most dignified one among them said to the man on the left: "You have walked this road three or four times this year. It is the most familiar to you. , go and make it clear to Mr. Lang!",
The man responded and bowed to Wang Wenzuo: "I tell you, sir, this road is not easy to walk on!"
"That's natural!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "Why is it so hard to leave?"
"Needless to say, the mountains are high and the roads are dangerous!" The merchant sighed: "The most important thing is that the weather is erratic. You have to wear leather clothes when you go out in the morning. When the sun comes out at noon, it is so hot that you want to wear only a single coat. In the afternoon, it may be so hot." When there was a strong wind, hailstones the size of eggs fell, and their heads were bruised and bloody. There were also bandits along the way!"
"Robbers?" Wang Wenzuo looked up from his notebook: "Are there many robbers on this road?"
Cough cough cough!
The old man's cough interrupted the man's answer. He looked at the old man's face hesitantly and said cautiously: "There are not many. In fact, bandits are everywhere! It's not surprising at all, hehe, hehe!"
Wang Wenzuo glanced at the old man and knew that there was no point in continuing to ask. He winked and the guards next to him each presented a famous tattoo: "It is fate that I can meet you all today. If I have something to do tomorrow, I will If you can come to the door with this name, if Wang is within his power, he will definitely not shirk the blame!"
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Twelve days later, Songmao Ancient Road.
"Do you think there are bandits here?" Wang Pu asked in a low voice.
"I don't know! If there are any, they must be staring at us!" Acton looked around vigilantly. The sky was cloudless, and the jagged peaks climbed up and up in darkness, until they reached the top. The ice and snow surrounding the peak were shining in the moonlight. There was a pale reflection underneath.
"I don't think so. They must be warming themselves by the fire, or hiding in a cave blown by the wind. Damn it, it's so cold here!" Wang Pu complained while moving his hands and feet under his cloak and fur, trying to keep warm. This experience It reminded him of the chills he had spent at home when he was a child, when he and his brothers slept in the same bed and used each other's body heat to keep each other warm. Now he is also surrounded by his brothers, but the shared straw bed has been turned into a dirt floor.
"It's possible to hide in a cave, but it's impossible to warm yourself by the fire!" Acton whispered: "The fire is too conspicuous at night. Standing on a high place, you can see it for more than ten miles!" "There are always many fools in this world. !" Wang Pu sneered and said: "They will feel that even if they are discovered, no one will be willing to brave the cold wind and the risk of falling into a deep ravine at night to come and cause trouble for them!"
"If there is such a fool, it can only be said that life is unlucky!" Acton whispered: "As the governor's scouts, if we find anything suspicious, we must find out no matter what!" At this point , he coughed lowly: "I'm on duty for the second half of the night, and you're on duty for the first half of the night. Call me when the time comes!" After that, he lay down and started snoring almost at the same time.
"Acdon, you are a pig! A moose pig!" Wang Pu cursed angrily. He walked to the entrance of the cave, wrapped himself tightly in his bearskin cloak, and looked out. The razor-like wind screamed in the night, as if a mother who had lost her child was mourning. With the help of the moonlight, he could see that most of the hillside was bare, with only a few trees, and they were short and skinny, huddled on the rocks. Among the gaps and crevices, they look like stunted deformities; there are often protruding rocks above the valley bottom paths, with icicles hanging from the edges, like the fangs of beasts.
Of course, Wang Pu would rather serve as a scout with Acton than continue to be punished by Wang Ence. And he also saw countless wonderful sights: they walked over the edge of steep rock walls and saw the beautiful scenery of the sun shining on waterfalls covered with thin ice; they passed through endless alpine meadows, covered with red berries The bushes, even Acton admitted that he had never tasted such sweet fruits, the grassland was full of autumn wild flowers, those beautiful flowers, blue as the sky, auburn and golden as ears of corn, scarlet and bright as flames; deep and dark The two of them also crossed a natural stone bridge that had been eroded by Feng Shui, and there was nothing on both sides except air.
The eagle built its nest on the cliff and circled over the canyon. It spread its powerful blue-gray wings and flew in the air, almost blending into the sky. Once he even witnessed a gray-white "big cat" hunting a male on the cliff. Goat, it is like the flowing smoke flowing out from the belly of the mountain, silent and undetectable, patient, and the final blow will kill you.
I hope if it's my turn, I can do as well as that "big cat"! He subconsciously reached out to touch the horn bow on his back, as well as the saber and dagger at his waist. Only then did he remember that he had not maintained his weapons for several days. Shifan once said: Weapons are the life of a warrior. If you don't cherish your weapons, you don't cherish your own life! Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel a little ashamed. He quickly pulled out his saber and carefully greased it.
"There's fire!"
At first, Wang Pu thought it was because he was dazzled. He rubbed his eyes to confirm that he had seen correctly. They were not stars in the sky - stars can blink, but firelight cannot.
"Acton, wake up! Wake up quickly!"
"What's going on?" Acton woke up quickly. He quickly figured out what happened from the excited words of his companions. He walked to the entrance of the cave and took a look: "It's not far from our place, at most one mile away! "
"The straight-line distance is one mile, so walking is not necessarily the case. This is a mountain road!"
"It's such a high mountain, and it's even more fatal to climb it at night!" Acton sighed: "But this is what we should do!"
The two quickly packed up, walked out of the cave, and walked towards the mountain road, leaving traces of twists and turns, their breaths frosting in the darkness. Wang Pu, who was wrapped in a bearskin cloak, felt as if he was naked, but fortunately, neither of them wore armor, so they would be more flexible in their movements. They walked very slowly, because if they were in a hurry, they would risk breaking their knees or even their heads. But Acton seemed to instinctively know where to take the next step, but on this broken and uneven road, Wang Pu could only move forward step by step, following in Acton's footsteps.
This mountain road is completely in a long and winding valley, sometimes surrounding rolling mountains, and sometimes becoming a hidden canyon that cannot be seen from the sky. The two walked along the path for a long time. The bonfire in front of them appeared and disappeared, but they could see that the distance was constantly shortening. The path Acton chose was getting narrower and narrower. In some places, he even had to turn sideways, his back pressed against the cold stone, dragging his feet step by step like a crab. The only thing Wang Pu could do was grit his teeth and follow behind, being careful not to break his ankle.
The road ended abruptly at a protruding thick rock. Acton poked his head out and saw the dim orange firelight and the black figure projected on the rock wall.
"One, two, three!" Wang Pu counted silently in his mind, and his eyes turned to Acton: "There is one more person than us!" He did not speak, but he believed that Acton could understand what he meant.
Acton pulled out the short sword from his waist and smeared it with mud so as not to reflect the light and alert the enemy. He demonstrated his determination with his actions. The bandits lit the bonfire in a shallow depression at the narrowest part of the valley entrance, with a raised rock wall behind to block the cold wind. Actun and Wang Pu walked slowly along the mountain wall until they looked down at their opponents.
There was a person beside the fire who had fallen asleep, curled up with a pile of fur. Wang Pu could only see the black braids exposed under the fur. The second person was standing close to the fire, adding branches to it, while complaining about something. The remaining man looked toward the entrance of the valley, and to his right lay a horn.
"One person has already fallen asleep!" Wang Pu was secretly happy. He exchanged glances with Actun, and saw the same joy in each other's eyes. The two untied their horned bows, pulled out their daggers, and first stringed their arrows. Wang Pu was responsible for the guy adding firewood, while Acton dealt with the watchman. At this distance, even Wang Pu was sure to shoot through the enemy's throat.
Wang Pu drew his bow full until the feather of the arrow was close to the base of his ear. He aimed at the part of the enemy's throat closer to the chest, where it is easier to cut off the artery. Even the most stubborn person will not be able to do it after the artery is cut off. It also loses strength quickly. He glanced at Acton, nodded, then turned back, loosened the bowstring, and the arrow cut through the air. The wedge-shaped fine iron arrow cut off the throat, blocking the scream in his throat; almost at the same time, Ah Kedun also loosened the bow string, and the leaf-shaped arrow the size of a child's palm almost cut off half of the target's throat, and blood spurted out and sprinkled on the rock wall.
The falling movement and twitching of the deceased woke up the sleeping man. Wang Pu rushed forward, pulled out a short knife and tried to capture the other party alive. Now that there were two of them, they could get one alive to collect intelligence. But the man flicked the fur on his body and covered Wang Pu's head and face. Just as Wang Pu was stabbing instinctively, he was kicked to the ground by the opponent, but Acton had already rushed up from the side, holding both hands. He had already clasped the opponent's shoulders, and with a hook under his feet, he threw the person to the ground, grabbed his hair, and stretched the blade towards his chin.
"This bastard!" Wang Pu got up from the ground holding his stomach. The blow to his lower abdomen just now was really serious: "I'm going to kill you!"
"Relax, Wang Pu!" Acton said with a smile: "It's just a kick. The living are more useful than the dead!"
"Then I have to give him a few slaps!" Wang Pu felt a little resentful. He lifted up his sleeves and prepared to give him a few slaps. As soon as he walked up to the prisoner, his face changed slightly: "Female!"
"What?" Acton asked.
"It's a woman, we have a female prisoner!"
Acton pushed the prisoner to the ground. The woman on the ground, or rather a girl, had fear in her eyes. There was a scar on her white neck, and blood was flowing down along Acton's blade.
"What to do with her?" Acton asked in a low voice. Although his archery and martial arts were better than Wang Pu's, Wang Pu was usually in the dominant position in the relationship between the two.
"Don't worry, let's find out her identity first!"
"She must be no ordinary woman! Otherwise, the situation just now wouldn't have knocked you down so easily!"
"Yeah!" Wang Pu knew that Acton was right. Ordinary women would be frightened to the point of weakness when awakened from their sleep. How could she be knocked down so easily? He walked over to the fur mattress where the girl had been sleeping and kicked a long dagger out of reach: "Your name!"
"Tuyanmangjiebo!" The girl touched her throat and looked at the blood on it in surprise.
"What are you doing here at night?" Wang Pu asked.
"Watch the road!"
"Guard the road? Why?" Wang Pu asked.
"Why?" The girl showed a disdainful expression: "You are from the mountain, right? No wonder you say that!"
The girl's expression angered Wang Pu. He pulled out a short knife and approached the girl's throat: "Don't forget that you are my prisoner. I can kill you at any time!"
"I am a prisoner, but it is not yours, but his!" The girl pointed at Acton with her chin: "I was knocked down by him, not you!"
"If you are my prisoner, answer his questions!" Actun said: "Otherwise you will have to suffer!"
The girl smiled: "Well, you people down the mountain won't understand. Everyone in the mountain must be careful about their neighbors, especially when winter is coming!"
"Be careful of your neighbors?" Wang Pu sneered: "I think you are checking to see if there are any business travelers passing by on the road. Do you want to rob them?"
"You are right to say that, but since those merchants passed by our land, isn't it appropriate to offer gifts to the landowners?" The girl retorted: "We are just keeping an eye on the road to prevent those stingy people from escaping!"
From yesterday to today, my new home is still in a mess. I finished coding this chapter quickly. I can only ask for your forgiveness! Moving is really debilitating!
(End of chapter)
