Central Asia is very chaotic at the moment, and Lao Luo knows that his location is probably a peaceful area, and further east is the border between the Byzantine Empire and the Arabs.

The world of the Arabs is moving towards fragmentation, from the four caliphates, the Arab world has come to a peak, with the passing of many sages who control the situation, the Arab world begins to fall apart, doctrinal disputes, differences of interests cause internal chaos, and then the Persians, Seljuks (Turks), and Oghuz who were once attached to the Arabs began to pursue the development of their own tribes, and the whole of Central Asia is like a mess, with many large and small tribes, and their relations with each other, Even Li Zhan, who is also in Central Asia, is difficult to tell.

"Let's just walk all the way to the east, see which city you encounter, if it's good, take a break, and if it's not good, just continue to the east. Al, what do you say? Lao Luo thought about it carefully, but he still didn't have a clue, anyway, he had nothing to fear from these people, unless he encountered a battlefield with a large number of people, he didn't have to worry about safety.

"It's okay, it's said that the east side is very chaotic all the way, and there's nothing worth paying attention to." Elhesion had also heard about things in the East, and he was also aware of the Fatimid Kingdom's conquests in the East.

The matter was basically agreed in this way, and Li Zhan, Zhang Lu, and Li Ji's thoughts naturally went without saying, and if they found a helper like Lao Luo, they couldn't wait to return to Baku immediately to reunite with the clansmen of the artisan camp.

With more than 200 horses, plus the original horses and camels, the load of the people was greatly reduced, except for the small amount of goods carried by many camels on their backs, a large amount of food and drinking water were stored in Lao Luo's space, and even there were many reserves of forage for camels and horses. Letting go of the speed, according to the arrangement of the march, the crowd began to go all the way to the east.

The Asia Minor Peninsula is bordered by the Black Sea in the north, the Aegean Sea in the west, the Mediterranean Sea in the south, and the Armenian Plateau in the east.

Although it is a semi-arid grassland climate, because the time passed by Lao Luo and the others is the end of February, it is not hot, and even in the morning and evening, because of the altitude, they have to wear thicker clothes. The Anatolian plateau is dotted with low hills, small hills, and interspersed with lakes, bogs, and desert steppes.

Although the population of this era was small, there were many caravans from Smyrna to the east, so you can always find people along the way without a guide. The scouts led by Alc were skilled in finding their way, and the ashes of campfires, the footprints of horses or caravans, and even the traces of dung left by the caravans could tell us about the surrounding situation.

Except for the two unlucky guys with broken bones who were fixed on the back of a camel, the rest of the people are familiar with life on horseback or camelback, even if they don't need to be fast, Lao Luo estimated that the distance traveled by the entire team per hour can be more than 20 kilometers, at this speed, even if it only travels for eight hours a day, then it is 160 kilometers a day, referring to the world map in Lao Luo's memory, it will take about a few days to cross Ankara.

The seized horses have the mark of the army, if you guess correctly, they should belong to the army of Smyrna, and somehow Smyrna has lost more than 300 cavalry troops, and if these military horses appear in Ankara, it will definitely not be a big trouble. But if you don't go to Ankara and go southeast along the Taurus Mountain, where there is a city called Konya in later generations, called Maiu Lana in this era, which was a military town in the southeast of the Byzantine Empire, these military horses are also a problem.

Fortunately, on the way east, he avoided the place where the garrison was in Manisa, and Lao Luo couldn't help but think with some worry, what was the Byzantine military town like in front? What do you need to do with these horses? According to the fact that the Smyrna cavalry dared to trouble the merchants, the military discipline of Byzantium should be very chaotic, and perhaps it was possible to pretend to be the Smyrna cavalry to pass the pass?

No, if you don't have the information, you are asking for trouble.

In the evening, the party arrived at a small lake, a position that had been discovered by Alc's men, and Lao Luo decided to rest here, first of all, to solve the problem of the military horses, and it was not advisable to discard the booty, so it was necessary to think of another idea.

After dinner, Lao Luo called Gonzhas and Alke to his side, "Does anyone know the road to the east better?" ”

"I know a guy named Helton, who is a Bulgarian who used to sell horses here." Alcke said neatly.

"Helton?" Lao Luo recalled, "Is it a tall and thin guy with brown hair?" ”

"That's right, he has good marksmanship, and he has good riding skills," Alk explained, seeing who Lao Luo was, explaining: "He was captured by the Bulgarians to serve in the army because he sold horses, and was captured by the Romans, and then became a gladiator." ”

"Well, got it, Alker, you go and call him over." Lao Luo understands that these people under him have an unusual past, and it seems that he still hasn't been able to make full use of the resources at hand.

Alc left as ordered, and Gonzhas asked curiously, "Master, is there any trouble that is difficult to solve?" ”

"That's right, those booty horses in our hands are a nuisance, with the imprint of the Romans on them, and I fear that the army will be suspicious when we pass through the military towns to the east." Lao Luo casually explained, no matter whether Gonzas can solve this problem or not, it is not wrong to work together, after all, as the saying goes, three stinkers beat Zhuge Liang, not to mention that these of his subordinates are veterans who have been through battle.

"Imprint... Branding, or can you do it with dyed material? Gonzhas said after a moment of deep thought.

"Dyeing?" Lao Luo thought about it, this is also a way to try.

At this time, Alker came with the tall and thin Helton, and from a distance, he saw this Helton hurrying over, and when he got closer, one fell on one knee, holding a helmet, and said, "Helton has seen the master." ”

Lao Luo couldn't help but laugh a little, how did this guy's posture look like the Manchu bannerman's posture, but at this time, the Jurchens didn't know which cave to hide in, if it weren't for the yellow hair on his head, and the Latin he spoke, it really made Lao Luo think that he had crossed time and space again.

Patting his head, Lao Luo forced himself to be sober, "Okay, get up, I said you can call me boss." ”

"Yes, thank you, master." This Helton was very well-behaved, so he stood up, and then stood aside and waited for Lao Luo's orders.

Lao Luo looked at it, and then, don't be polite anymore, and said directly: "Helton, I heard that Alker used to sell horses around here, do you know the situation here?" ”

Helton's performance goes without saying, but the guy is quite familiar with his surroundings, even though this guy is more of a businessman than a warrior. Helton is a sensible person, and although he behaves obscenely, the things in his head are really not simple.

Lao Luo pulled out the parchment paper and quill pen, and drew a brief topographic map of the Asia Minor Peninsula with reference to the map of the later generations in his mind, this Helton can briefly understand the geographical location, and at the same time can indicate the local place name and general environment in some locations, which makes Lao Luo have to admire, this Helton has not experienced the education of later generations, just a brief description can understand what Lao Luo draws, and can also explain his memory against the drawings, this is the best business talent.

In this era, the population was sparse, and the Byzantine Empire also did not have much population in the east, and there were many undulating mountains on the Anatolian plateau, and some places with higher altitudes were not suitable for building large-scale cities, so there were only some military towns in the north and south directions, the most representative of which was Ankara in the north, and Mai Rana (later Konya) in the south, which was also the largest military town distributed in the north and south of the western Asia Minor Peninsula, Further south, Antalya is the most important port in the Byzantine East.

In addition to the two most important strongholds, there were also some small strongholds scattered in the basin or by the lake, but they were all fiefdoms assigned to certain families, and they were not large, and many of them had no garrisons, and most of them were private soldiers of some families. As for the number of private soldiers, it depends entirely on the strength of the resident families in the area, as well as on the surrounding geography, such as the amount of arable land, the number of civilians, and the strategic position of the location.

There are many typical strongholds and towns along the middle road, and the more important nodes along the way are Ushak, Borvadine, Yenigioba from west to east, and then Lake Tuz, which is the territory of the Arabs to the east.

Combined with these, if Lao Luo's team wants to avoid the big military towns, then it is a good way to go to the central mountain range, the disadvantage is that there will be some problems with the supplies along the way, and because it is far away from the garrison, the security of the surrounding area depends entirely on itself, because the private soldiers of many fiefdom families are no different from robbers.

The best way to get enough supplies is to go north to Ankara, the largest military town in the eastern Byzantine Empire and the largest stop for caravans from the East and West.

Because Helton used to sell horses, he has a set of things for Soma, and he can completely solve the problem of the imprint of military horses, and it seems that no matter what era it is, there will always be someone with unexpected talents. In the army, this Helton doesn't look like a good soldier, but as a businessman, this guy is estimated to be an excellent businessman.

The problem of the military horses was thus solved, and Helton solved the problem with grass juice and different colors of clay and some camel hair, but this simple method made Lao Luo quite cry and laugh, because the military horses that covered the brand were all like a relily head in the end, and they were ugly to death. It's just that Helton said that when the grass juice dries, the color will become lighter, and the color patches on the horse's body will not attract attention, which dispels Lao Luo's disgust.

Which way to go, it is up to Lao Luo to make his own decision, which makes it difficult for him to choose.

Take the mountain range in the middle to avoid the trouble of the army, although there may be bandits or blind families on the way, but Lao Luo and his party are the least to worry about bandits, and they can be used as trophies sent to the door, but there are still shortcomings, after all, it is a small road, time delay is a problem, and the supply of forage is also a problem.

There is no need to consider taking the south road, then the advantage of the north road is to save time, it is easy to replenish, and it is easy to find the path and guide to the east when you get to Ankara, and the disadvantage is that it is easy to be targeted by greedy bureaucrats or the army.

Thinking about it a little headache, Lao Luo inspected the camp, Gonzhas had already arranged the personnel for the night vigil, this no longer needs Lao Luo to worry about, he decided to go back to rest, wait for the next day to see how the coat color of those military horses is, and then decide the way back.