Chapter 70: The Horse Thief
In Liaodong in September, the grass grows and the eagle flies, and the sediment carried by the water of the Liaohe River forms a reddish-brown ditch on both sides of the estuary, because the soil is fertile and attracts all kinds of plants to grow, indirectly feeds countless animals that feed on grass, hares, roe deer, and yellow sheep forage in large groups among them, and occasionally they are alarmed by something, and they will scatter with a bang.
"What a pity." The pheasant slave crouched on a small slope, looked at those delicious pieces of meat and sighed, as a good hand with arrows, it was difficult to find prey and not be able to fight, she picked a nameless wildflower and put it in her mouth, chewed out a stream of sweet juice, and swallowed it together with the **.
The old dog lay a little further forward, while the other two men led all their horses to their back, and the horses had slapsticks on their mouths to prevent them from making a noise. The horses were full of weapons, from spears more than a foot long to strong bows and crossbows, and they were also brought here from all afar.
Looking at the past from the perspective of the pheasant slave, the old dog looked a little funny, pouting his ass and lowering his head, with his thick body, like a pig arching to the ground, she was not in the mood to see the joke at the moment, her eyes stared at the valley in front of her without blinking, where the direction leading to Jinzhou City, if the target wants to come, this river valley is the only way to pass, because not far away is the only ferry on the Liao River nearby.
"It's coming!" Suddenly, the old dog rushed to the sky and stretched out a middle finger, this gesture was set by Liu Yu, which means that the enemy is coming. The pheasant slave couldn't help but perk up, and in the valley area ahead, there was a faint sound of horses' hooves, and the first thing he felt was not the old dog holding a clairvoyant mirror, but the small animals scattered to forage for water and graze, they first prick up their ears vigilantly, and then they fled quickly in the opposite direction, and after a while they ran clean.
"It's on your own turf, isn't it too careful?"
A Mongolian man on a horse looked out at the open field in front of him, all the way to the big river in the distance, except for the occasional flying waterfowl, there were only living creatures that were frightened and fled in all directions, and there were not even rolling hills around, how could there be any way to hide the ambush soldiers, and use dozens of knights to fan out the search?
"I can't take it off, I can't do it so much, except for extraordinary courage, there is only constant care, and when it comes to shrewdness, you and your Great Khan are the most outstanding in the world, my friend." The fat man rode a tall horse from the Western Regions, but he looked a little wolf, and no matter how good a horse was, it was not as comfortable as riding in a car.
He knew that things were definitely not as simple as he thought, this place was already a little far away from Jinzhou City, the former did not seek the power of the government, it seemed that he was confident, so he would look at it in vain.
Behind them was a line of pack horses, drawn out a long one, flanked on either side by horse-mounted guards, and with a large number of men and horses, who seemed to have nothing to worry about, for they were approaching the ferry.
"The Great Khan still wants your help, and you can rest assured that if it gets done in the future, you will be rewarded enough." Tuo Buhua walked with him and walked slowly to the edge of the line.
"You know, my Great Khan lives in the capital, he controls a qiē, to be honest, I don't see any possibility of success for you, your numbers are too small, and your hearts are not aligned, I want to know why I am willing to help you?" Without waiting for him to answer, he shook his head and continued: "War will make me more money, no one will think that I have more money, but if it threatens my life, it is another matter. ”
The former is telling the truth, he is just a businessman, and it is his instinct to pursue profit, but he will never risk his life. Any discerning person can see the huge gap in the strength of the two sides, which is also the reason why Tuo Buhua personally went on a trip, and everything he saw showed that the situation was even worse than he imagined.
The whole team had arrived at the ferry, there was no movement along the way, the horse team in front had already begun to get on the boat, there were not many boats on the ferry, two boats were shuttling back and forth, and only two horses could pass on one boat, the team had to stop and wait, and gradually gathered in the valley in front of the ferry.
"Okay, then can you tell me, why did that Xue Chan Khan in the capital suddenly send so many soldiers, what did he want to do?" Seeing that he couldn't walk for a while, he jumped off the horse and threw it to his subordinates, but he came to the front of the stabbing and helped his fat body down.
"The Great Khan's heart is as wide as the sea, and it is not just you, understand?" Suddenly lost and still looked like a god, and he was used to it, and he couldn't take it and think about it, savoring his words, not only including himself, but also others, thinking of this, his eyes turned to the south, where there was a huge empire, a country that had resisted countless invasions for three hundred years, a barbarian country that was ridiculous and cowardly in their mouths, could it be that Kublai Khan's eyes were there?
"Before Boyan went to the northwest, he was defeated and retreated from the south, I heard that many people died, a Han friend of mine, named Dong Wenbing, never came back, the Great Khan was angry, this time you all have to be careful." The stabbing can only be said to be in this way, and the rest has to rely on the latter to make up for it by himself.
Dong Wenbing, who is the person who can't take off the flower, how can he not know, almost a Han man who is a very popular minister, if even he dies in battle, this defeat will definitely not be small, Kublai Khan will not retreat but advance, the next action will only be greater, there is a smile on his face, at least he did not come in vain this trip, and got the news he wanted the most.
"Don't get complacent too early, it's not necessarily a blessing or a curse." Diethorn suddenly had to remind him that once the south could not withstand it, the Great Khan would have more resources, and then he could imagine what he would do, if Haidu's vision was only like this, then should he stay away from them?
"No, no, no, thank you, my friend, I thought of something else." It can be seen that the gratitude for not taking off the flowers is from the heart, and the reason why he made an exception today is because the other party made him owe a favor, and whether this favor can be used will be known soon.
The whole team is still slowly crossing the river, the ferry boat is all supported by people, the speed is naturally not fast, and there is no intention to urge, but there is a faint expectation, this expression is seen by the pheasant slave and others who are monitoring them, and they are anxious and annoyed, why haven't Li Shiyi and the others rushed over yet?
The pheasant slave didn't get up, he turned his head on his stomach, and the two sergeants behind him were fiddling with the microphone, except for the same "rustle" sound, there was only a deathly silence, seeing her inquiring eyes, the sergeant shook his head helplessly, who told them to go too far ahead, and did not communicate with the team behind in advance.
The helpless pheasant slave could only turn around and continue to observe, while watching more and more pack horses crossing the river, while secretly scolding Li Shiyi in his heart, running slower than a tortoise, at this moment, the old dog not far in front of him suddenly made a second gesture, two fingers side by side, and then separated into an inverted figure, this means? The pheasant slave tilted his head and thought about it, there were soldiers and horses, but he was not sure whether it was friend or foe
Because of the distance, when the old dog saw it with a clairvoyant scope, the ferry had already gotten the news. A sentry shouted at Pegasus and rushed to the place where the other were standing, pointed behind him and said something, and then he fell from his horse, and with two feathered arrows stuck in his back, one of his men walked over and sniffed, shook his head at him, and then pulled out one of the feathered arrows, and handed it over, despite the blood dripping from the arrow.
"Sure enough, it's him." Diethorn suddenly looked at the shaft of the arrow, showed a strange smile, and saw that the side of the detachment was a little puzzled, so he handed the arrow mark, the latter took it and looked at it, and carved a few strokes with a knife, like a bird spreading its wings.
"It's nothing, just a bunch of horse thieves." Suddenly, he began to give various orders to his team, and the pack horses that did not cross the river were dismantled, and the shelves on them were unloaded and opened one by one, and they were not ordinary goods for exchange at all, but long knives, bundles of arrows, and in the blink of an eye, the men who drove the horses became fully armed knights, and one by one they turned in the direction from which the sentry had come, and in their sight a large puff of smoke and dust was clearly visible, and there was a chaotic sound in the wind, It sounds like a ghost scream.
"So you knew they were coming." Only then did he understand his intentions, and deliberately dragged time here slowly, just to lure them in.
"No, I didn't know they were coming, unless someone told me, didn't they, Wen Du'er Chi?"
Thorn suddenly looked at one of his subordinates with a smile, the man was stared at and lowered his head, the hand holding the border rope trembled slightly, and suddenly he slammed the horse's belly, intending to rush out, but was quietly surrounded by several people who had been prepared, one of them flew from the horse and pounced, and he who was about to speed up the start suddenly rolled down, and in the panic he didn't have time to stand up, and several pairs of horse hooves with iron palms fell on him.
Watching a living person being trampled on and unable to see the appearance, the miserable howl was unbearable, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly involuntarily, he saw this person's cruelty for the first time, and he still looked harmless to a human and animal, and his smile made people feel a little stupid, but he was afraid that the person who understood it was a real fool.