Persuade you to have a glass of wine, and there is no reason to go out of Yangguan in the west.

Beiqiu was the last city on the border of the Great Chu State, and it was also a fortress to defend against the Qi State. Out of this city, it is no longer the jurisdiction of the Chu State, and the buffer zone in the middle is the last dividing line between the Chu State and the Qi State.

The area is far more inhospitable than you think.

It seems that not only this area, but also the borders of the seven countries are like this, but where the soldiers face each other, there are always living creatures, not to mention living creatures, even flowers and plants are gone, and it is really a lonely desert.

Who would have imagined that this desolate northern land was once a plain with abundant water and grass?

There can be this scene on the border of Qi and Chu, if you find out the root cause, I am afraid that you will have to blame the Hou Ye who has been guarding Bengbu City for more than ten years in the northern land of Great Chu.

In this desolate land with no people, a carriage appeared in the desert with a horse, and the carriage was so slow that even the rider could not gallop freely.

Zhao Qi's equestrian skills are not weak, but his butt hurts after riding a horse for a long time, for him, a person who can lie down and not sit, and can sit without standing, riding a horse to a hundred miles away to sing is simply asking for life.

To tell the truth, it was the first time for him to go out of the country when he was so big, and no matter how far he went in the past, he would not have gone out of the northern land of Great Chu, but today it is the last city on the border of Great Chu.

As far as the eye could see, it was yellow sand, Zhao Qi was a little sad, turned his head and finally looked at the Beiqiu City that was about to disappear from sight, and said goodbye today, I am afraid that we will not see each other for many years.

Wang Chan probably saw Zhao Qi's reluctance, so he stroked his beard and talked about things related to this desert in order to attract his attention.

"Out of Beiqiu City, it is the real place of death, when I was young, I traveled to the Seven Kingdoms, and the borders of the Seven Kingdoms were all barren, and the only difference was the depth of the yellow sand."

"Don't look at the yellow sand on the border of Qichu, a more desolate place than this has also been seen, it is north of the Qin Kingdom, that is the real wasteland, if ordinary people go in, if there is no familiar person in the place to lead the way, I am afraid it will be difficult to get out again."

"Although there is also a vast yellow sand as far as the eye can see, you can vaguely distinguish the traces of people's walking, and the footprints left in the northern land of Qin at this moment will be swallowed by the yellow sand in the next moment."

"This kind of area also has a lot in common, such as horse thieves, which seems to be a unique scenery in the desert, and if there are no horse thieves in the desert, it is a little less interesting."

The little marquis listened to the old man talking to himself, and the melancholy in his heart was a little less, but he was raised by the horse thief. He took off the water bag from his waist and drank a sip of water, then handed it to the old man sitting cross-legged, and said: "Zhao Tuo said that the most ruthless people in this world are horse thieves, they kill innocents indiscriminately for a bite to eat, and even do not hesitate to kill each other.

Wang Chan smiled, took the water bag from Zhao Qi's hand, and was not surprised that his newly accepted apprentice called Bengbu Hou's name, this was all Zhao Tuo's own doing, doting on his son in every way, and now although Zhao Qi has become his apprentice, he doesn't plan to care about this innocuous little thing.

"Do you know why the horse thieves prefer this desolate place?" The old man took a sip of water and squinted at the yellow sand outside the window.

Zhao shook his head.

The old man said: "Maybe in the prosperous era of the Great Zhou, there were no horse thieves in the world, and the old man guessed that it was the recklessness of the grass that fell into the grass, and he lived more freely than the horse thief. How dare you think that the famous horse thief in this wasteland may have been a soldier of Chu or a general of Qi State. ”

Zhao Qi was silent for a long time, as if he had figured out something, and said in a daze: "This is Zhao Tuo's sin."

"You're wrong." Who knew that the old man shook his head, "The horse thieves are not wrong, they are just for a bite to eat, and Hou Ye is not wrong, he is to keep the country of Chu, if there is no soul under the sword of Hou Ye in this place, I am afraid that there is no Liaoliao territory of Great Chu today." ”

Zhao Qi was stunned and asked inexplicably: "Since they are not wrong, what is wrong?"

"The fault is the king of the Seven Kingdoms, the fault is the mediocre son of the Zhou Dynasty, if they can meet the rivers and mountains within their reach, how can there be war in the world? Hou Ye will no longer have to kill people, and there will be no more horse thieves in the wasteland. ”

Zhao Qi thought about it, and suddenly said very seriously: "Then Zhao Tuo is no longer the marquis, and I am no longer a prince and noble, that can't be done, so, for me, the monarch of the Seven Kingdoms is not wrong, and the mediocre King Zhou is not wrong."

Wang Chan smiled and nodded, pointed a finger at Zhao Qi's forehead, and said, "Then isn't this horse thief reasonable?"

Zhao Qi smiled, and Wang Chan then asked a seemingly unrelated question: "You said, if you are born after studying, and your teacher asks you to assist the king of a country, which country will you be elected?"

Zhao Qi thought for a moment and resolutely replied, "Qin Guo."

Wang Chan stroked his beard and smiled: "Why?"

Zhao Qi blurted out: "One thing is strong to attack the weak!"

Wang Chan stroked his palms and laughed: "The son can be taught."

……

The desert after the war is deserted for its own reason, the war is one thing, and the horse thieves during the truce are the main factor.

Horse thieves make a living by robbing other people's property, and people who go out on a long journey are most afraid of nothing more than two kinds of people, one is the bandit who blocks the road and robs, and the other is the horse thief who kills people and steals goods.

There were no less than ten groups of horse thieves roaming around the wasteland between Qi and Chu, but the largest number was a gang under Yao Tong.

It is said that this Yao Tong was the general of the Qi State, and there were countless soldiers of the Chu State who died in his hands, and he was a veritable killing god, as for why he became a horse thief, no one knows, listening to the words of his peers, I am afraid that it is related to a certain marquis of the Chu State.

After Yao Tong became a horse thief, he also brought the set of the army over, and the horse thieves under him were all well-trained, unlike other horse thieves, these people were bound by many rules set by Yao Tong, such as the rule that the other gangs did not have the rule of going out on a safari once every seven days.

However, no one was resentful, after all, under the leadership of this former general of the Qi State, a group of brothers were more comfortable than other gangs.

Today, exactly seven days have passed since the last safari, Yao Tong took a saber and a longbow on his back, and took a dozen horse thieves out of the stockade.

Yao Tong has led the group of people under his command to crisscross this desert for more than ten years, and their luck is good and bad, and there are still a few cases where luck is so good today. In the past, it took a lot of trouble to find the prey, but today it was only half an hour before I left the village, and the appearance of the carriage seemed to be quite luxurious from a distance.

The corners of Yao Tong's mouth hooked, snorted coldly, and shouted: "Brothers, there is meat to eat!"

The few people accompanying him immediately let out cheers.

With a wave of the saber in Yao Tong's hand, he galloped his horse first, and the rest of the horse thieves followed.

Zhao Qi is really depressed to death, rushing in this boundless desert is undoubtedly a torment, non-stop for almost a day, except for the yellow sand or yellow sand, not a single figure can be seen. Zhao Qi sighed and opened his mouth to say, "If I encounter a nest of horse thieves now, I want to run over and say hello."

Wang Chan, who was sitting face-to-face with him, just smiled and didn't speak.

The carriage was still moving unhurriedly, and after a long time, Wei Yanle's horse, who had been leading the way in front, stopped in place, and the old horseman who had brought out of the Zhao Mansion on the carriage also stopped with the reins.

Zhao Qi didn't know what was going on, so he leaned out of the curtain and asked the horseman: "Old Liu, what happened?"

The horseman, who was called Lao Liu, pointed to the group of people placed in front of him not far away, his face was bitter, and he simply said four words: "Young master, horse thief."

What is it really about, Zhao Qi can't wait to give himself a mouthful, so he can say what this horse thief is doing? I'm in trouble now.

For Zhao Qi, a person who has never seen horse thieves, he naturally doesn't know what the strength of these horse thieves is, but when he first entered the desert, he talked with Wang Chan and learned that there were Qi Chu's soldiers and generals among the horse thieves, and he was not an ordinary person, which made Zhao Qi a little worried.

Fortunately, there was still a cheap master in the carriage who didn't know how much he was capable of now, which made him feel at ease a little.

"Little Hou Ye doesn't need to worry, just leave it to Wei Yan." The old man's unhurried voice came from the carriage, and he probably heard what Lao Liu said to Zhao Qi.

Zhao Qi retracted the carriage in a daze, squeezed out a smile as a thief, and just said that he was going to greet the horse thief, but now he was a shrinking turtle, this person can't afford to lose it.

Wang Chan just smiled and didn't debunk it.

Zhao Qi touched the back of his head and didn't look out the window to relieve the embarrassment. He wasn't really stupid enough to run over to find the bad luck of these unintelligible horse thieves.

The wind blew across the ground, bringing up yellow sand, forming a tornado that was not too small and soon disappeared in front of the eyes.

On horseback, the white-haired young man held his right hand on the hilt of the knife, and his eyes stared coldly at the more than a dozen people riding horses and swords not far away.

Perhaps it is the confidence in their own strength, the horse thief does not have to say some nonsense such as "leave to buy road money" before plundering like the bandits, but rush straight to kill them with a knife, for them, after killing all the prey, what is left behind is all theirs, and there is no need to talk more about what is in the bag.

Wei Yan's eyes were like torches, and the scabbard slapped on the horse's buttocks and rode out, but the knife in his hand was not unsheathed, and the dust flew everywhere he passed.

However, a distance of 100 paces, in the blink of an eye, he was close to the front, Wei Yan leaned over to avoid the attack of the first person in the group of horse thieves, and struck the man on the back with a backhand, and the seemingly random blow knocked the man off the horse, life and death unknown.

After shooting down the man, Wei Yan propped up his horse and soared into the air, and with a flip of his wrist, he shot down a horse thief again.

He galloped wildly, and wherever he passed the horse thief was like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered, and he fell off his horse wherever the scabbard passed. In just a moment, the two went back and forth, and the whole team was left alone with the leader.

Wei Yan reined in the horse and looked at the last man, or the strongest, of the horse thieves.

Blood oozed from Yao Tong's face, the roles of the prey and the hunter were reversed in an instant, his eyes were a little desolate, how could he walk by the river without getting his shoes wet? Today he hit a nail, and he knew that he could not escape from the wings in the hands of the young man in front of him, so he raised his knife and prepared to make a final resistance.

"Die!" Yao Tong roared angrily, swung his knife and slashed at Wei Yan, Wei Yan's face did not change, his hand rose and fell, Yao Tong turned over and dismounted.

Zhao Qi, who was hiding in the carriage and watching the battle, was dumbfounded, with the strength of one person to force dozens of humvee thieves, and in less than half a moment, the enemy was completely annihilated, and the knife was never unsheathed, he had a new understanding of this young man who would soon be called a senior brother.

What he didn't know was that just because of Wei Yan's knife, the pattern of the horse thieves gang in this wasteland had changed drastically.