Chapter 65: A Fight of One Man
In the Western Regions, you can do business for a long time, you can do without chariots and horses, but you must not miss camels.
Although camels have a bad temper and body odor, they are difficult to train, they do not mature until they are five years old, they only give birth to a baby in three years, and they need to graze for a long time, which seems very uneconomical. However, their feet and hooves are suitable for walking in the desert Gobi region, with strong carrying power, and they do not have to drink water for three or five days in the desert, so they are the most suitable pack animals in the Western Regions, and even completely replace the position of wheels and carts.
However, it is one thing to ride slowly to do business, and it is another thing to run away on horse......
There were more than 20 people in total, some on horseback, some on camels, and when they found that the Han officials were chasing, they couldn't help but speed up, but the distance between the two sides was still pulled closer and closer, close enough to be able to shoot a bow!
At the end of the caravan were several tall Bactrian camels, two of whom rode together, and although the speed was slow, those behind could turn around and shoot with a recurved Scythian bow!
This kind of bow has a very long range, Ren Hong subconsciously deviated from the horse, but found that Bai dodged, and the arrow fell far on their left side, no way, when the camel runs, due to the posture, the body will shake from side to side, and it will be hell if it can be aimed accurately.
However, Zhao Han'er held the mount tightly with his legs, freed his hands to open the bow and arrows, and shot while riding, three arrows in a row, and the last arrow hit the huge Bactrian camel, which screamed and went crazy on the spot, and threw off two people on the body, one of whom was also trampled on......
As for whether they were dead or not, Ren Hong did not know, they swept past the Sogdians who had been left behind, and continued to chase after the rest, and their own later officials tied up the two men.
At this time, the distance between the two sides was closer, and the Sogdians probably understood that the matter was exposed, and the Han Dynasty punished those who dared to offend very severely, as exemplified by the Luntai that was slaughtered into an empty city by Li Guangli, and the horses had slowed down since everyone had entered a sandy field, and they could not help but hope that they would be lucky and continue to resist stubbornly.
The next shot was not a bow and arrow, but a slingshot and slingshot, which the Sogdians were better at, Sun Shiwan accidentally took a beat, rolled off his horse and fell behind, and Ren Hong also received a stone on the top of his head, fortunately he was wearing an iron jacket, and only felt a buzzing sound.
The officials also kept throwing their bows and arrows forward with their colors, and at such a close distance, Zhao Han'er showed his terrible riding and archery skills, shooting down two people in a row, either dead or wounded, which made Ren Hong very envious.
He had no long-range weapon on his horse, only a spear in his hand, and a small round shield tied to his left hand, intending to pick up the missing and mend the knife.
It was too late to say that it was too late, and a large quantity of things was sprinkled from the camels of the Sogdians and fell in front of the officials.
Ren Hong also thought that the other party had a unique secret weapon from the White Camel Villa in the Western Regions, so he hurriedly bypassed it.
When I glanced at it when I passed by, I realized that it was money, including five baht coins from the Han Dynasty, and silver coins with human faces printed in some Central Asian countries......
He couldn't laugh or cry, this is ...... Throwing things away?
If they encountered the Huns or desert horse bandits, they might all stop chasing and bow their heads to pick up the money, but the Han officials thought of the Han army's graves that had been dug up in a mess in Julucang, and they all held their breath, and none of them dismounted.
The Sogdians knew very well that they could not be beaten and could not be bought, so after entering a Yadan landform, their leader scattered in all directions in tacit understanding, running everywhere in the vast Gobi.
Ren Hong stared at the slowest camel and chased after him, it was a small Sogdian, the pointed felt hat on his head fell off in the run, revealing a curly brown hair, he looked back from time to time, looking in horror at Ren Hong and Radish who were getting closer and closer.
In fact, Ren Hong was also very empty, because he found that no one came with him on the left and right!
"Damn, what about people?"
Now they can only fight on their own, thinking that the other party is just a businessman, he should be able to fight......
Fifty or forty paces, the radish hooves kept touching the ground, lifting the sand high behind them, and the surrounding scenery was moving rapidly.
It was only a matter of time before the horse caught up with the camel, and when Ren Hong pondered how to get this man off the camel later, whether to learn a cowboy to tie him with a beautiful knot, or to drag it directly with his hands, the Sogdian did not leave.
He reined in the camel and turned around, drew a short sword, gave the camel another whip, and rushed towards Ren Hong with a howl!
Although the camel is not as fast as the horse, it has the advantage of a high dive, the camel has long legs, panting in its big mouth, and the Sogdian is holding his sword high, wanting to cut down Ren Hong first at the moment of misturning!
Ren Hongneng felt that the galloping radish had a trace of fear, but he did not flinch, because he got along with the camels of the envoy group day and night along the way, so he was not afraid of this animal, and because he trusted his master very much.
Ren Hong didn't even have time to think about it, the distance between the two sides was too short, and between the lightning and flint, he only had time to do what he had practiced countless times against the dead tree:
Grasp the wooden handle of the spear tightly, clamp the shaft firmly under the arm of your right hand, and aim the tip of the spear diagonally upwards at the Sogdian merchant charging towards you!
The horse is fast and the camel is slow, the spear is long and the sword is short, this is Ren Hong's only advantage.
Ten steps, five steps, Ren Hong's pupils widened, and he wanted to see the other party's movements clearly, but he only saw a pair of cyan eyes full of fear like him!
And the blade that slowly falls, wanting to cut off the shaft of the spear!
But the turnip was flying so fast that before the Sogdian's sword could swing, the tip of the spear had been sent into his shoulder!
The moment he misturned, Ren Hong only felt a violent impact, and there was a sharp pain in his right arm, as if it was broken, he immediately let go of his hand, and there was the sound of a heavy object falling behind him.
The radish continued to rush forward, Ren Hong was a little dizzy, and his first reaction was to touch his right hand and still be there.
Ren Hong was a little out of breath, and it was so exciting to ride and fight, so he could only say a few words to slow himself down.
"It's still there, the little right is still there, otherwise you can only rely on the little left in the future."
By the time he had turned around, the camel had long since disappeared, and only the struggling and wailing Sogdian merchant was left in the sand......
……
"I should actually aim my spear at the camel's slender and soft neck rather than stabbing people, if he is not an ordinary merchant, but a veteran of the battlefield, I am afraid I will not be so lucky."
Ren Hong tied up the Sogdian, carried it to the radish, and led it slowly back.
Along the way, he was still reminiscing about his first cavalry battle, after leaving the Han Dynasty, he could be involved in conflicts anytime and anywhere in the Western Regions, he had a good body, but he really had no talent, only regardless of summing up experience and practicing diligently, he could survive on the battlefield.
While thinking, Ren Hong was also looking at his loot.
In his hand was a Sogdian merchant's iron sword, about three feet long, with a bent deer carved on the hilt, with two rings on the left and right at the end, typical of the Central Asian Scythian style.
In the arms of the Sogdian, who had fainted from excessive blood loss, Ren Hong also found a letter written on a sheepskin, with dense horizontal writing on it, 24 lines on the front and 1 line on the back, which was obviously a combination of different letters, probably the legendary Sogdian script......
To the east of the Green Mountains, the Han Dynasty was the only country with written language, but when it went out of the Western Regions, it was discovered that there were many civilized countries outside, which greatly stimulated the curiosity and interest of the Han people.
On the way back, Ren Hong met Zhao Han'er, who had several heads hanging on his horse, and he was looking for Ren Hong's figure everywhere on the Gobi, and was relieved to see that Ren Hong was fine.
More Sogdians were captured by Xi Chongguo, and he did not appear on the frontal battlefield, but took a few good men with the best riding skills to go around to the front from the side, blocking the Sogdian leader, and at this moment he brought people back with camels.
Sun 100,000, who was knocked off the horse by a slinging rope of the Sogdians, was no big problem, but he was limping, and he couldn't catch up with everyone anyway, so he simply picked up the money on the ground and held a bunch of it for Ran Renhong to show them at the moment.
But I saw that those silver coins were about the same size as five baht coins, but they were solid, and on the front was the head of a curly-haired king wearing a crown, and on the back was a muscular brother and a naked man, I don't know what kind of god it was. In addition, there is a line of alphabet, which is very different from Sogdian, and is supposed to be Greek......
Sun 100,000 had been to the west of the Green Ridge and told Ren Hongdao:
"This is the coin of the Great Xia Kingdom, and it is the same as the rest of the country, with silver as money, engraved on the face of the king, and the king dies with more money. The Great Xia Kingdom was originally in the west of Dawan, and now it was driven to the south by the Da Yue clan and the Cypriot people near the poisonous place, and its people were weak and afraid of war, and the subordinates belonged to the Yue clan. ”
Ren Hong nodded, the Hellenistic era, whether in the East or the West, has come to an end. The Greeks were beaten by the Romans in the west, and the nomadic Yueshi and Cypriots in the east, so they had to turn south and exploit the Indians......
But what annoyed them even more was that among the coins scattered by the Sogdians, there were also many five-baht coins from the early Taichu period, needless to say, which must have been dug from the graves of the Han army.
In fact, it doesn't add up to more than 10,000 dollars, which is not as much as selling ten horses of silk, but this group of Sogdians is greedy for this small bargain, or it may be purely to vent their anger at being expelled from the Han Dynasty.
That's why so many people deserve to die.
The leading Sogdian merchant, called "Shakun", with his long tubular beard and curly blue eyes and brown hair, confessed that it was they who had dug up the grave of Julucang and then remembered to intercede with the officials.
"Spare your life!"
Shakun, who also knew Chinese, knelt on the ground, stretched out his hands high, and pleaded: "We are confused for a while, and we have offended the big man!" But I can give the Han envoy a situation in Loulan, please spare my life! ”
Ren Hong endured it and didn't say that sentence, but Xi Chongguo gave Yang Bodao a kick: "It's too late to say anything now, go and make amends to my Han family soldiers after death!" “
"The dead are already dead, but what I want to say is related to the survival of the Han envoys, and I don't listen to it?"
Shakun bowed at them, then raised his head again and said:
"What we saw with our own eyes in the city, the lord of Yixun City seems to be a big man, but in fact he ......"
"He is secretly communicating with the Huns!"
……
PS: The second chapter is in the evening.