Chapter 114: How Fast Can We Run?

If the Albanian religious war against Khotan is just a small wave in the sea,

Then, the crusade that changed the world and left a permanent wound on the world should be a stormy wave in the sea.

Tie Xinyuan clearly knew that in less than fifty years, the war that lasted for two hundred years would begin.

Since the Roman Catholic holy city of Jerusalem fell into the hands of ****** Christians, the pope allowed the lords and kings of Europe to wage a religious war aimed at recovering the holy city.

The crusades were mostly directed against ethnic Albanian states, and the main purpose was to recapture Jerusalem from ****** cults. During the Crusades, the Church awarded every warrior a cross, and the soldiers were decorated with a red cross in their clothing, and the army formed was called the Crusaders.

No matter how noble the excuse for going to war was, this war waged in the name of the gods eventually returned to its original form.

That is robbery and plunder.

Many landless feudal lords and knights wanted to use the rich East as the object of plundering land and wealth.

Italian merchants wanted to gain great profits by controlling commerce in the eastern Mediterranean.

And the Pope wanted to merge the Orthodox Church and expand the sphere of influence of the Catholic Church.

Many serfs and outcasts living in hardship, natural disasters and taxes were called upon by the church and feudal lords to look for a way out and a happy land in the East.

The purpose of the Crusades was only to satisfy their own interests, and as for the interests of God, only the corpses of the pagans strung on the cross stretched for hundreds of kilometers can prove it.

However, Tie Xinyuan didn't have much feeling about the Crusades, because this war was no harm to the Song Empire in the East.

That is, because of the Crusades, the Albanians had to stop their eastward development and turn to the threat from the west.

Relatively speaking, this brutal war of religion lasted for two hundred years. It is very beneficial for these countries in the Far East.

Now that Musin is about to wage a religious war, Tie Xinyuan is eager to sit on the sidelines and see how they have gone from being a conspirator to a bandit with a knife in his mouth.

For the Western Xia cavalry, Tie Xinyuan has a deep understanding, when Yang Huaiyu returned to Beijing to give birth, what he talked to him the most was the fierceness and death of the Western Xia cavalry.

If it was a Western Xia cavalry that had been armed with religion, Tie Xinyuan didn't dare to imagine what kind of energy these people would burst out.

Tie Xinyuan himself was very unhappy to stand on the opposite side of the Tangut people, so what he was most concerned about now was how fast they could run.

"Old Xu, I don't want to ride a camel this time. Can you give me a horse, if you can give me two mares, my brother will be grateful. ”

Xu Dongsheng heard Tie Xinyuan say this, and said suspiciously: "Riding to Persia, you will die a miserable death."

You know, running a hundred miles on horseback and three thousand miles on horseback are definitely two different things. ”

Tie Xinyuan smiled: "I just want to run faster, Lao Xu, I suggest you also ride a horse." ”

Xu Dongsheng's eyes rolled a few times. Looking back at the caravan that had been packed, he whispered, "Okay, let's take six milk-producing mares and two to transfer." A pack of horses.

After entering the desert, change the camels. ”

"Can I go first?" Tie Xinyuan said cautiously to Xu Dongsheng.

"The next time you say something like this, you must have two words together."

Tie Xinyuan thought so.

He had very little luggage, one horse carrying food and water for a small tent, and the other carrying people.

Tie Xinyuan carefully examined the horses' farriers and bridles. The belly strap was specially filled with an extra bag of water in a sheepskin pocket and placed on the back of the saddle. Stick to the skin of the war horse, the advantage of this is that the water will not freeze because the skin of the war horse is hot. Xu Dongsheng saw Tie Xinyuan tie his trouser legs and clothes together with a thin rope, and instead of asking why, he made the same choice.

After spending so much time with Tie Xinyuan, he knew that this young man would never do useless work.

Under the pretext of opening the way for the camel caravan, Xu Dongsheng took Tie Xinyuan and his fifteen heavily armed servants, and made an appointment with the Albanian leader who came to lead the team to meet at the beacon tower thirty miles away, and quickly left the inn.

The leader of the Albanian tribe who led the team didn't care about Xu Dongsheng and Tie Xinyuan's departure, without these two people, he might be able to participate in the elder's holy war.

Compared with half-hearted people like Xu Dongsheng and Tie Xinyuan, their feelings for the gods are not only deep, but also resolute.

While these two men were plotting how to avoid the war that was bound to come, they were preoccupied with how to spread the glory of the gods.

After leaving Shazhou City, Xu Dongsheng stopped his war horse and glanced in the direction of Leiyin Temple, and then ran wildly towards Yangguan Road in the southwest direction without hesitation.

In the early morning on the Gobi, there was not a single cloud, the sky was as blue as jelly, if there was no biting cold, Tie Xinyuan wanted to plunge into this blue sky and sleep forever.

On the flat gravel floor, only a few beacon towers stood abruptly.

The history of these beacons can even be traced back to the Han Dynasty, after thousands of years of wind and rain, now like a drooping old man, the appearance has been mottled, only the bones and muscles still exist.

Tiexinyuan swept under the beacon tower, and every time he passed a beacon pier, it was like crossing a period of vicissitudes of history.

He believed that Huo Quai, who had stepped on the Yanzhi Mountain, had been here, and that the Xiongshi of the Tang Dynasty who had conquered the Turks had also passed through here.

Now I am also riding horses from here, but unfortunately, there is only one person.

Xu Dongsheng did not stop in front of any of the beacon towers, only one servant bent his bow and shot arrows in the gallop, nailing a bright red silk cloth to every beacon tower he passed. It seems that Xu Dongsheng is not willing to stay here.

Tie Xinyuan was very satisfied with Xu Dongsheng's life-saving attitude, no matter what, the abandoned Yangguan, which is one hundred and fifty miles away from Shazhou, is a suitable place to stay.

Compared with Xu Dongsheng, an expert who has traveled a long way, Tie Xinyuan is the biggest burden in this team.

When others change horses, the team does not stop, and the group of people, including Xu Dongsheng, who is a little obese, is like this, and the appearance of sweeping like flying on the horse is very enviable.

This is something that Tiexinyuan can't do.

Seeing that Tie Xinyuan stopped to change horses in a hurry again, Xu Dongsheng smiled and said: "Don't worry, don't be ashamed, after you ride all the way to Persia, it will not be a problem for you to ride on a horse." ”

Tie Xinyuan added a soft cushion to his saddle, climbed onto the horse's back with difficulty, and said, "I feel that my legs are almost closed." ”

Xu Dongsheng took a long breath of the cold air on the Gobi and said: "Bear with me, we have already walked a hundred miles, and we will rush to Yangguan in one breath and stay again." ”

"What about the caravan at the beacon?"

Xu Dongsheng wrapped his mouth and nose in sackcloth and said disdainfully: "We are scouts now, the farther we explore, the greater the credit, the beacon tower is just the first place to respond, they can't find us, they will naturally come to Yangguan." ”

"Is it safe here? The Xiping army of Yelidulan won't pass through here, right? ”

"I don't know, Guazhou is in the east of Shazhou, we are now heading southeast, and we will reach Yiwu Prefecture in sixteen days, even if we enter the border of the Khitans.

Yelidulan guarded the border of Western Xia, and the main direction of defense was the Khitan and Huangtou Hui.

Now, neither the Khitan nor the Huangtou Hui have any intention of fighting the Tanguts, so I don't think he will bypass Yiwu Prefecture to deal with us.

Based on this, Elder Mu Xin calculated the time when the Xiping army came to Shazhou from Guazhou, so he suddenly decided to attack Shazhou. ”

Tie Xinyuan took a breath of cool air like a toothache and said, "The Tangut people are brave and good at fighting, do you know how sure Elder Mu Xin is of defeating the Tangut people?" ”

Xu Dongsheng said with a smile: "Fourteen camel teams, two sand thieves, a total of only three thousand people, the Western Xia people stationed in Shazhou only one thousand and one thousand warriors, all Luo Ran now took people to the Leiyin Temple without city defense, there should be an eighty percent chance of winning." ”

Tie Xinyuan heard Yang Huaiyu say that the strength of the two sides was not calculated in this way when they were fighting.

On one side is a patchwork army, on the other side is a crack regular army, although the number of regular troops is much smaller, once the fight begins, the regular army with military discipline is much more powerful than the ragtag army.

What's more, there are no less than a thousand Xixia people in Leiyin Temple, and Xixia is a country with a well-known army of all people, even if it is a sudden attack, Tie Xinyuan feels that it would be good if Mu Xin's chances of victory can be half.

Coupled with a Xiping army that is not certain at all, Tie Xinyuan believes that Mu Xin's chances of victory are hardly more than 30%.

"We should go straight to Igo State." The flesh on Tie Xinyuan's inner thighs had been worn out by the saddle, and he still wanted to run straight to Yiwuzhou, where it was obvious that it was a safe place.

Xu Dongsheng shook his head and said: "When you come to Yangguan, you can still talk about the past, if you go directly to Yiwu Prefecture, even if you have any reason, you can't say anything to Elder Mu Xin."

That's running away, not being a scout. ”

Tie Xinyuan also knew that what Xu Dongsheng said was reasonable, he was not cowardly, but felt that he didn't have any need to take this risk for Mu Xin, even if this danger was only theoretical.

Seeing that the sky had already darkened, both Xu Dongsheng and the exhausted Tie Xinyuan automatically sped up their horses, and if they could stay away from the battlefield, they would try to go as far as possible.

There was a black line on the horizon that appeared at the end of the field of vision, Xu Dongsheng's spirit perked up, and he shouted: "Yangguan, that's Yangguan!"

Brothers work harder, and we will rest when we arrive at Yangguan. ”

Tie Xinyuan's groggy head suddenly sobered up, and he sat up straight on his horse, ready to see this ancient city with his own eyes.

For him, this should be a spiritual temple, and he must enter the Yangguan with the best spirit and be inspected by his ancestors in the underworld. (To be continued.) )

PS: Chapter 1