Xiliuzhou is full of vast Gobi with no edge in sight, so that it is not specially marked on the map. The city is located in the middle of a desert. And the hot sand sea marked on the map of the marching division is really a place where there is no grass, and raw eggs can be baked in summer, and you can't get in and out.

"Hell place," the executioner murmured, "how can this place be inhabited?" ”

"Yes, no wonder the Founding Emperor didn't want these places in the south where birds don't." The dart master also chimed in.

"Don't talk nonsense, cheer up!" Li Yong was originally lying lazily in the car, listening to these words, sat up, poked his head out and said, "Not only can people live here, but also cut off your head." He put his hand on the pergola and looked ahead, calculating the distance in his heart, and it was time to arrive at Huwen City. Li Yong once went to Huwen City once, a steep lonely mountain in this city, which could be seen from a long distance. But as far as the eye can see, nothing can be seen.

"Don't worry," the executioner said with a smile, "We're almost at the end of the road, and we're not vegetarians." ”

Although this lord has a noble status and a team of dart masters, everyone doesn't know how noble it is. Anyway, after walking together for more than ten days, he didn't have any shelves. The Chi Road of Xia Guo only leads from Chang'an to Kangcheng, and the other roads are uneven. Huwen Castle is a newly conquered place in recent years, the traffic is particularly inconvenient, the roads are only vaguely recognizable, and the caravan is almost always traveling in the desert, and the traces of the previous caravan can occasionally be seen. The road was hard and boring, and the caravan mates were all happy in their misery.

Li Yong's eyes widened, his neck shrunk, and he didn't talk anymore. Li Yong yawned, looked at the boring desert scenery on both sides of the road, and was slightly distracted. Da Shi is a maritime power, and once you have precautions, it is not easy to get rid of the plunder. perseverance is not in line with Li Yong's temperament. When the Xia State sent Li Sihai to collect Haikou and sailors, and officially launched an attack on the coastal areas of the Great Food Princes, Li Yong retreated instead. He returned to the river and prepared to divert to Tianzhu, bypassing the boundaries of the Great Eclipse Princes and directly trading with the sub-Saharan Black Fan countries.

However, Li Yong's father, Li Hong, the Marquis of Bowang, asked him to become an official and make some preparations for inheriting the Marquis of Bowang in the future. It turned out that after Li Sihai became the admiral of the West Sea Division, with the prolongation of the war between the Xia Kingdom and the Great Food, his status rose, and he had great hope of becoming a marquis in the future. In this way, Li Yong may attack the Marquis of Bowang. On the recommendation of Xu Wenhu, Li Yong made the road Cao an official with the great merit of burning Basra. His envoy this time was to use his identity as a merchant as a cover to try to meet with Saman Hussain, a prince of Ghaznavid in the northwest of Tianzhu, and conclude a separate peace agreement with him, which strengthened Hussein's betrayal of Ghaznavid Sultan Balaam.

After the Xia State seized the river, it established the Inquisition, vigorously resettled and reclaimed, and gradually encroached on the Khorasan region to the south, and the Ghaznavid Kingdom became the sworn enemy of the Xia State. After the rise of the Romani Turks, the Ghaznavid Sultan Balam formed an alliance with the Sultan of Rum Messud, and the two countries together destroyed the Baiyi Dynasty in Baghdad. Among the princes of the Great Eclipse, the Ghaznavid kingdom was the closest to the river and the greatest threat, and if the Xia kingdom wanted to destroy the Ghaznavid kingdom or force it to withdraw from the war, it would be tantamount to cutting off the arms of the Sultan of Rûm.

Li Yong's envoy to Tianzhu had another purpose. If Saman Hussein was unwilling to turn against Ghaznavid, he sent troops to attack the weak kingdom of Chola in the south of Tianzhu. On the one hand, the Turkic soldiers and horses in the north of Tianzhu could not rescue the Ghaznavid, and on the other hand, Saman Hussein was used to force the Chola Kingdom to cooperate with the Xia Kingdom at sea, and even sent the navy to join the United Naval Division, in exchange for the Xia Kingdom's peaceful mediation on land. Of course, all this was done in secret, Xia and Ghaznavid were now enemy states, and if Saman Hussein turned his face and did not recognize anyone, hanging or beheading was the most likely outcome for the messenger.

"The higher the status, the greater the responsibility." Li Yong felt remorse when he thought about it, and muttered, "Damn tradition." ”

A gust of wind blew, and the wind swept across the sky with sand and dust, and the Gobi went from loneliness and desolation to violent and impermanent. In the Gobi Desert, this kind of impermanence is the last thing business travelers want to encounter. The empty and desolate surface makes the wind unhindered. When the wind blows, it's dark, but it's a bit of luck to fly sand and rocks, and the wind can move the dunes, bury the entire caravan, and even completely change the landscape of a desert.

The sound of the wind was very sad, like a ghost crying wolf, the figure was no longer visible more than a dozen steps away, and the executioners and dart masters barely pulled the horse, covering their mouths and noses with strips of cloth one by one, and suffering from the wind and sand in the dark. Li Yong also jumped out of the carriage and helped the executioner to pull the horse. Fortunately, the temperament of the horse is quite docile, and in such extreme circumstances, there is no one who kicks and runs around because of fright. After a while, the wind gradually subsided, and it seemed that the wind came and went quickly, and when everyone's hearts were slightly relaxed, the ground suddenly trembled slightly.

"Not good!" Li Yong raised his eyebrows and shouted, "Horse thief! With his right hand, he pulled out the scimitar.

"Horse thief!" "The robbers are coming!" "Leave the carriage alone, big guy get closer!"

"Coming in from outside!" "Circle the Circle! Crossbowmen! ”

Because the roads are narrow, the caravans are stretched along the line, and it is difficult to take care of each other. Suddenly, the horse thief was encountered, and under the beckoning of the shopkeeper, the caravan decisively abandoned the dozen carts in front, and the executioner was busy surrounding the carts in the middle into a circle.

The sound of hurried horses' hooves was getting closer and closer, the caravan's circle had not yet taken shape, and more than 100 Turkic horse thieves were killed in the wind and sand. They were probably already lying in ambush near the road, but this unexpected wind and sand gave them the opportunity to suddenly rush into the Chamber of Commerce. At this time, the carriage circle had not yet been arranged, but the executioner rushed to the nearest carriage in a panic.

"Don't run around, everyone get closer, form a circle!" Someone was shouting, but the effect was minimal.

"Damn," Li Yong scolded, "the executioners are going to get together!" Huang Fuming and the others also shouted loudly, at this time, no matter what, they must be arranged in a circle, otherwise, the horse thieves rushed to the front, and one by one they were sent to death. Their cries finally worked, and some of the executioners began to venture into the middle. Others, reluctant to leave the cover of the carriage, waited with trepidation for the thieves to get closer and closer.

The sound of "whoosh" and "whoosh" arrows breaking through the air sounded everywhere, and the swords flashed in the wind and sand, and the screams continued to sound.

This is Xiliuzhou, where Turkic horse thieves rob caravans, and will never leave anyone alive, even if they are driving cars, they will be killed. No matter how great your future is, the only way to defeat is death. A Turkic cavalry smirked, clearly charging towards him. Li Yong himself leaned against a carriage and aimed his crossbow at him.

The Turkic cavalry was extremely experienced, constantly turning the direction of the horses, and the crosshairs of the crossbow were constantly shaking, but they could not be fired. The distance between the two sides was more than a dozen steps, Li Yong pulled the trigger, but the Turks pulled the reins in advance, dodged the arrow, and then waved the scimitar to urge the horse forward, he stared at Li Yong coldly, like a wolf in the desert staring at its prey, at this distance, it was too late to open the bow or crossbow. The Turks raised their scimitars and skillfully slashed at the neck of their prey.

"Bang-" There was a loud bang, and the Turks fell to their horses in disbelief.

"Damn it." Li Yong threw the handcuff on the cart, and at the moment when the war horse swept by, he grabbed the reins and turned over and rode on horseback, while pushing the Turks down. He lunged at the nearest thief, unflickering out of the way, and then slashed his neck. Li Yong didn't have the patience to practice archery, so he always carried a life-saving handcuff, but the sword technique was taught by the masters of the Baiyi Dynasty. In the wind and sand, the war horses galloped back and forth, and more than a dozen horseback dart masters did the same thing with Li Yong, although they were few and weak, they still fought with their swords, desperately stopping the horse thieves, and buying time for their companions to arrange defenses.

A dart master was surrounded by two Turkic horse thieves, still fighting to the death, only to see the scimitar flying, the horizontal knife up and down blocking, a dodge can not dodge, then the horse thief cut off the right hand holding the horizontal knife, the horse thief let out a cheerful cry, who expected this dart master to be very strong, the left hand caught the falling horizontal knife, desperate gritted teeth and stabbed, immediately pierced the opponent's chest, blood gushed and stained the robe red. It all happened very suddenly, and in an instant another thief slashed the dart master from behind with a sword, and before he could get up, several more thieves trampled through the horses before he could move.

The desperate resistance of the dart masters worked, and before the large number of horse thieves rushed into the middle of the caravan, more than twenty carriages had formed a chariot formation. The surviving dart master and the executioner each armed with a sword, a bow and a crossbow, guarded by the chariot formation. The horse thief couldn't rush in for a while, so he had to stop for a while. Li Yong and the others were able to return to the car formation to rest. At this time, everyone saw clearly that the Turks had more than 100 horsemen, and in a short period of time, the caravan dart division and his men had killed more than 30 people, and there were more than 70 people left.

"Li Gongzi?" The retinue Huang Fuming said in a low voice, "Break through or hold on?" ”

"What?" Li Yong said loudly, "Light the wolf smoke!" ”

Huang Fuming was stunned, "Alas, I forgot this stubble!" He slapped his head. Immediately take out the wolf smoke pile and light it.

Li Yong nodded and turned his head to look into the distance. Huang Fuming is the guard sent to him by Lu Cao, although his martial arts are extraordinary and he is also shrewd, but he lacks the experience of traveling. Li Yong calculated that this place was not far from Huwen City, even if there were horse thieves, it was also a small group of sneaky, and if the head of the city saw the wolf smoke, he would inevitably send soldiers and horses to rescue him. On the other hand, if the wolf smoke was lit without reinforcements, it meant that the city itself could not be protected, and under the siege of the large Ghaznavid cavalry that followed, the small caravan could not escape in any case.