The horse stood with the countless needles of grass, and the wind swept over it, and it was struck back. It had been standing there looking at him. Low clouds brushed the horse's body, and the horse began to walk in the grass. The clouds scattered as it ran, covering its body as if it were flying through the clouds.

Suba felt a strange shock, and the horse resembled a Pegasus, its long mane plucked by the wind and clouds, and its head floated lightly in the clouds, occasionally flashing, and then quickly disappearing. The posture of the horse in the clouds and mist is so beautiful, as beautiful as the artistic conception in a dream. It hissed suddenly, and the sadness in its voice made Suba's hands tremble.

Chuda looked at Suba: "Kid, did you see it again today?" ”

Suba stared at Chuda, "I've been following it for days, but I can only see its shadow every time.

"The sorrow of a horse can reach the heart of man, and that is the reason why he approaches man. It should be the last sacred horse in this grassland, that horse lives in the woods of Dacang Mountain, but always comes to the lake to drink. It ran so far to the lake, as if looking for its loved ones. Child, your mind is too big, and a real rider will look for those boots of his own, but those boots are the soul of the gallop, and no one can wear them on the prairie......" Chuda's eyes overflowed with sadness, "It is the rider who has to endure the pain, are you ready?" ”

Suba suddenly remembered Lu Xiaoxian's entrustment to him, and he couldn't help but feel a little excited in his heart, he lowered his head: "I know I'm not a warrior, but I have to get that horse, I want to give it to the master, only it is worthy of the master, but I don't know how to get close to it!" ”

Chuda looked at Suba's face: "Child, come with me, I will show you something, and that thing may be your way to the horse, and it will make you understand the horse's voice." ”

Subba followed Chuda to a large felt bag, the rain had stopped, and the sky seemed to wash up with a deep blue that he didn't dare to look at.

Chuda pushed the door open, and the smell of burning ghee came from the felt bag, and a butter lamp grew in the dimly lit room.

Chuda turned on the lamp, and the room shimmered with a bean-sized light. Suba saw an old broken saddle on the ground, and he touched it with his hand, and it was cold to his fingers.

It was covered with a finger of dust, and how many years had it not been ridden?

There was also a pile of stirrups in the corner of the room, and on the wall were a dozen old bridles.

Suma felt something ancient coming at him.

Suba looked at Chuda: "These things seem to be decades, right?" ”

"Three hundred and twenty-six years." Chuda said as she picked up the lamps and leaned over to the old harnesses, which were even more dim in the light, some of them shattered, and some of them were only half left.

Suba was stunned by Chuda's answer, he didn't expect these harnesses to last so long, he subconsciously asked Chuda, "Who will be left?" Who could this man be if he left behind such a pile of old things? ”

"This man is the owner of these harnesses and the ancestor of our family." Chuda said softly.

Suba really didn't expect that these dilapidated things in this room were relics from three hundred years ago.

Suba asked Chuda, "What did he leave those harnesses for?" ”

"When I was born, these things were there, passed down from generation to generation, like a small river, and the water flowed to me." Chuda's voice trembled a little, "His name is Qiu Cheng, and he is the first owner of the Dacaotan Horse Farm. At that time, this horse farm was said to be tens of thousands of acres, and he had more than 10,000 horses, countless cattle and sheep, and he was the greatest glory of this family. It is said that he can understand the horse language and talk to the horse, and of course these are legends. When he died, he left a book for our family, which was written on birch bark, and later the family made a copy of it with paper for the convenience of preservation, but unfortunately the original manuscript was lost, and I have never seen those birch bark books. ”

As he spoke, Chuda fumbled in an old saddle and pulled out something, a small book wrapped in cloth.

With a shake of his hand, he took the book out of his bag and handed it to Suba: "The legend of this book is that the sounds of those horses and some of Soma's experiences are written, and anyone who reads it can talk to the horses and understand the voices of the horses. It's a pity that I don't know those words, it's like the sun is blocked by clouds, and I can't read them. Maybe you can read it. Child, take it and see it, it appeared in this world, not to make the past a secret forever. ”

Suba's heart sank, and he took the book from the old man's hand, it was very thin, only a few dozen pages.

What will be the content in these dozens of pages?

Attracted by a strong curiosity, he opened the book, and there were half of the old words of the past, some of which had lost their shape and were just a feeling, and some of which were strange symbols. He couldn't understand those words, and those symbols were even more heavenly.

Suba and Chuda left the room and stood outside, the sun shining all over their bodies, and his heart immediately brightened.

Chuda said to Suba, "This book will only allow you to read it for a month. In a month, I'm going to take it back. ”

Suba nodded earnestly.

……

"Brother Cen, can you help me ask, are there any merchants in Luzhou who sell horses from the Turks?" Lu Xiaoxian explained to Cen Shaobai.

"Coincidentally, I met a horse dealer a few days ago, a Sogdian named Ancharu!"

"What are Sogdians?" Lu Xiaoxian asked strangely.

Cen Shaobai explained: "The Sogdians called the nine surnames of Zhaowu, so they were also called the nine surnames Hu. The Sogdians were a distinctively mercantile people, and almost everyone knew how to do business! ”

Lu Xiaoxian nodded: "Can you take me to meet this Ancharu?" ”

Lu Xiaoxian followed Cen Shaobai to find Anchalu, who was a bearded man with a high nose and deep eyes and curly hair.

Lu Xiaoxian asked politely to Anchalu Hanzi: "I don't know what business Shopkeeper An mainly has?" ”

Ancharu did not hide it: "I mainly came from the steppe to sell livestock, and when I went back, I brought some tea and cloth and other goods!" ”

Lu Xiaoxian's heart moved: "Shopkeeper An, can you sell horses?" ”

"Of course it's sold!"

"Are there Turkic horses?" Lu Xiaoxian asked.

"Of course, there are, but Turkic horses are geldings!"

When Lu Xiaoxian heard this, he was speechless, how to breed geldings?

"Why only geldings?" Lu Xiaoxian was very puzzled.

"The Turkic Khanate has an order from the Khan of Mosi, and if a steppe merchant sells Turkic thoroughbred horses into the Tang Dynasty, it is a capital offense, and geldings are not among them!" Ancharu replied.

Lu Xiaoxian smiled bitterly and shook his head, it seemed that this way was impassable, and he asked again: "I don't know how many Turkic horses Shopkeeper An brought this time?" ”

"A hundred!"

"So be it! I want all of your more than 100 Turkic horses! Lu Xiaoxian thought for a while and said, "You can help me sell two hundred horses, and I will pay the deposit together!" ”

Although it is impossible to find stallions for a while, it should be no problem to use them to train child slaves.

Seeing that Lu Xiaoxian was so young, he was worried that he would not be able to pay the silver, so he reminded: "My horse is ...... each."

Lu Xiaoxian waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, you can go to the checkout with the shopkeeper Cen!" ”

Ancharu turned his inquiring gaze to Cen Shaobai, Cen Shaobai patted Ancharu's shoulder and said, "Let's go, the rest is a matter for the two of us!" ”

"Wait!" Lu Xiaoxian suddenly shouted.

"What's wrong? Xiaoxian, is there anything else? Cen Shaobai asked.

Lu Xiaoxian said to Anchalu: "I want these horses urgently, please hurry up!" ”

"I will!" Ancharu nodded.

"Brother Cen, next time Shopkeeper An comes back, tell me that I want to invite Shopkeeper An to dinner!"

Listening to Lu Xiaoxian's brainless words, Cen Shaobai didn't know what he meant, and was about to ask, but Lu Xiaoxian had already turned around and left.

……

Wei Xianyun and Lu Xiaoxian are not mistaken, Li Yide is indeed a good master. Li Yide's training method of archery for child slaves is relatively unique, and he solemnly hands over the brand-new longbows to the children.

Looking at the children with excited faces, Li Yide raised the bow in his hand and asked loudly, "What is this?" ”

"Bow!" The children replied loudly.

"That's right, it's a bow. But do you know what the bow is for us? Li Yide asked again.

The children didn't know how to answer.

"The bow is our life. People are in the bow, the bow is in the people, without the bow we leave our own life, no matter what time and what the situation, an archer must love the bow as much as his own life. Do you understand? ”

"Understood!" The children's answers resounded in the sky.

Li Yide's intention is very simple: the weapon that is often used, once held in the hand, will have a natural and comfortable feeling, which is the "bow feeling".

From this day on, the children stayed with the bow twenty-four hours a day. They ate, slept, and trained with bows, and bows became their friends, brothers, and most familiar companions. The most they do every day is static aiming exercises and quick bow raising aiming exercises.

……

It's not enough to practice archery, Lu Xiaoxian is still thinking about how to let the child slaves practice riding, if they don't know how to ride horses, they will definitely not be able to ride horses in the future.

First of all, Lu Xiaoxian told the child slaves to stay with their horses at all times, whether they were eating or sleeping. For this reason, Lu Xiaoxian equipped everyone with two horses.

Lu Xiaoxian asked the child slaves to make friends with their horses and communicate with their horses as soon as possible. In order to achieve better results, Lu Xiaoxian also asked Suba to give lessons to the child slaves every day, and gave a detailed introduction to the horses' living habits, smell, sight, taste, hearing, and how to eat and sleep.

After that, it was time to train the child slaves to ride horses.