Dozens of feather arrows were inserted into the body of the corpse, especially the arrow on the front door penetrated the back of the head, and the red and white flowed all over the face, and the death was very terrifying. But since Baguli dared to be a guide, he had obviously seen some of the world, and he would never be frightened by a corpse that had died in a horrible state. Liu Xin couldn't help but look at him suspiciously and asked, "Do you know this person?" ”

Baguli waved his hand in a panic and said, "No, no......"

Liu Xin's face sank and shouted, "Tell the truth! ”

Baguli couldn't help but shudder, and said tremblingly: "Lord Hui, this person seems to be a neighbor of Xiaomin. ”

Liu Xin groaned: "You are a Shule person, so he is also a Shule person?" Since he lives next to you, you should know what he does on a daily basis. ”

"He is a soldier in the Shule Army." Baguli didn't dare to hide it, so he had to tell the truth, suddenly fell to his knees, kowtowed to Liu Xin, and said, "I hope that the adults will be benevolent and righteous, don't be angry with the people of Shule, and the people will kowtow to the adults." ”

Liu Xin said: "You get up, there is a wrong, there is a debtor, Liu is not a person who kills indiscriminately." However, his identity is a little suspicious, how could a soldier of the Shule Army suddenly appear here and become a horse bandit? ”

As he spoke, there was another trumpet sound from the watchtower in the south, and it was obvious that another horse bandit had come from there. Throughout the night, the bandits appeared in the east and then in the west, and it was not until more than five days before they became quiet. Although the horse bandits harassed all night, the Han army was well-trained and did not panic in the slightest. The horse bandits did not get any opportunity to take advantage of it, but were killed and wounded by the sharp arrows of the Han army.

The sky is bright, the field of vision is gradually widening, and there is no fear that the horse bandits will be ambushed. Wei Yan once again led a team of cavalry to patrol around the camp for a week, and everywhere was calm and quiet, and there was no one to be seen. There were still many arrows and blood stains on the ground around him, but apart from the corpses and two wounded people he had dragged back last night, there was not a single dead body in the field, and it was clear that the bandits had taken away their injured or killed accomplices, as Liu Xin had expected.

Liu Xin pondered for a while and said, "Take people to search in the desert on both sides!" ”

Now that it was dawn, it would be particularly conspicuous if someone walked down the road with a group of corpses, so it was impossible for the bandits to take their dead companions with them, and the only possibility was to hide the corpses in the nearby dunes. Although the dunes look exactly the same, people who live in the desert all year round always have a way to tell the difference, and they can wait until after dark to retrieve the bodies of their companions. Sure enough, in a short time, a group of cavalry sent to the south rushed back, and they found more than a dozen corpses behind a sand dune.

These people were also killed by arrows in their bodies, and sure enough, as Baguli said, there were people from the Western Regions, Huns, and even a Han Chinese. But what made Liu Xin strange was that they didn't have a close encounter with these horse bandits last night, and two horse bandits were actually killed by cutting their throats with sharp blades.

Jia Xu was shocked and said: "These horse bandits are really vicious, and they refuse to let go of their injured companions!" ”

Liu Xin was woken up by Jia Xu's words and finally understood. After these horse bandits were hit by arrows, they did not die for a while, but they were unable to move, so in order to avoid dragging everyone down, the horse bandits simply ended up with these two seriously injured accomplices who did not die. Liu Xin couldn't help frowning and said, "It seems that the first thing after rebuilding the Western Regions Protectorate is to eliminate these horse bandits. ”

At this time, Bagul also finished inspecting these corpses, and arched his hand and said: "Lord Hui, Xiaomin has checked it just now, and these people are likely to be Black Whirlwind's subordinates. ”

After a while, a troop of horsemen who had gone to the desert to the north also returned, but found nothing.

Liu Xin waved his hand and said, "No matter where he comes from, one day I will wipe them out!" Order, pull out the village, go! ”

Mink Chan and the others also walked out of the tent, all of them with red eyes, obviously not sleeping peacefully that night. Although Liu Xin repeatedly emphasized that the camp was absolutely safe, the women were always extra careful to avoid any accidents. In particular, the twelve guards tightened their blades, vigilantly patrolling around the camp, completely forgetting Liu Xin's order to "take turns guarding and maintaining energy".

Liu Xin saw that these female guards were all nervous and tired, and couldn't help but shake her head helplessly, without a good rest, how can you do a good job of guarding with this look, it seems that you must train strictly in the future, but now there is obviously no kung fu to train them, so she has to send another thirty flying tiger guards to temporarily take over their guard duties.

After this episode, the road went all the way unimpeded, and there were no more dangerous situations. That evening, the team arrived at an oasis. Suddenly, a large group of people appeared in the village, and the people there were very nervous. Bagul explained the situation to the village chief, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

The patriarch was an old man with white hair, he strode out, pressed his left hand to his chest, bowed deeply to Liu Xin, and said, "Distinguished guests from afar, Amu Fan welcomes your arrival. ”

Liu Xin learned a lot about the customs of the Western Regions from Baguli along the way, and knew the most solemn etiquette given by this patriarch, and Amu Fan was the name of this patriarch. Liu Xin did the same, and also returned the salute to the old patriarch, and took a wooden plate from the hands of the guards, which contained two exquisite silks, and said: "Patriarch Amufan, Liu has come from afar, and he has not prepared any gifts, a little thing, and I hope the patriarch will not dislike it." ”

Amu Fan took the wooden plate, a look of excitement suddenly flashed in his eyes, and he muttered: "This is silk, I haven't seen such a good silk for many years." ”

Liu Xin smiled and said: "Old patriarch, Liu intends to restart the trade route from Dahan to the West, and you will see a lot of silk like this at that time, but I don't know if the village and the people around it are welcome." ”

Amu Fan's face was suddenly full of fascination, and he said with a smile: "When I was young, there was an endless stream of caravans passing through the village every day, and countless silks were transported to the West, and countless jade stones were transported to Dahan, and the villagers also benefited a lot. If adults really have the heart to restart this trade route that has been broken for ten years, the old man will naturally welcome it! ”

Liu Xin laughed and said, "Since we are not persona non grata, then Liu will have to bother in the village for one night." ”

Amu Fan said with joy on his face: "Distinguished guests, please come into the village!" ”

The villagers were very enthusiastic about the guests from afar, and the patriarch led the village elders to present all kinds of fresh melons, fruits and wines to Liu Xin, and the young girls danced happily. Liu Xin gave them some silk and tea in return, and taught them how to make tea.

Drinking sweet grape wine and appreciating exotic songs and dances, Liu Xin said with a smile: "Old patriarch, Liu encountered horse bandits on the way here, I don't know if they usually disturb the village?" ”

Amu Fan patted his chest and said: "Please rest assured, the horse bandits will never dare to attack the guests who live in the village, in the desert, they will not survive if they leave the village." ”

Liu Xin nodded thoughtfully: "So, those horse bandits will often come to the village?" ”

Amu Fan said embarrassedly: "Actually, many horse bandits also fell into the grass because they couldn't survive. In the past, the villagers could live a good life by relying on those caravans coming and going, but now there are no caravans passing through here, and the grain collected on the ground cannot feed these many people, and sometimes they need to rely on those horse bandits to help. As long as they don't harm the villagers, the government doesn't bother to take care of it. ”

It is no wonder that the horse bandits in the Western Regions are rampant today, it turns out that these horse bandits and the villagers take what they need. When the horse bandits robbed their property, they always needed a place to get rid of it, and when they got money, they had to have a place to have fun, which in turn promoted the economic development of the village and made the villagers' lives sustainable.

Liu Xin has a bottom in his heart. In fact, here and in Jiangnan and other places, the really extremely murderous guys are only a few after all, as long as most people can get by, who wants to be a robber? If we want to solve the problem of horse bandits in the Western Regions, we must still take the road of suppressing and appeasing at the same time.

The so-called 36 countries of the Western Regions are actually oases in the desert. While raising cattle and sheep, the local people will also grow some crops. However, neither cattle, sheep nor crops can meet the needs of the people. But the Western Regions also has its own unique conditions, and it is located at an important node of trade between East and West. The caravans that came and went brought a variety of rich commodities and considerable wealth to the local people, and commerce can be said to be the basis for the survival of the local people.

However, since the Han Dynasty's capital or Changshi Mansion in the Western Regions was gradually abandoned, the Han merchants who had lost their protection struggled in the Western Regions. The local government would impose harsh taxes on them, and some powerful Hu merchants would also bully and dominate the market, force them to buy and sell, and over time, fewer and fewer Han people were willing to do business here. Similarly, trafficking goods from the Western Regions to other parts of the Han Dynasty inevitably had to pass through Liangzhou, and in recent years, Liangzhou has been full of powerful people, coupled with the continuous wars in other states, the Hu merchants are reluctant to traffic goods to the Han Dynasty. Eventually, this prosperous trade route was declining.

Thinking of this, Liu Xin's mood also relaxed, and he picked up his glass and enjoyed the singing and dancing in the audience. The women from the Western Regions who danced were plump and bewitching, and their waists and limbs were twisting and turning.

There were no tables and chairs in the village, everyone sat on the floor, and a blanket was spread in front of them, on which many melons and fruits were placed. Liu Xin naturally sat in the middle, and from his point of view, the chests of those women looked even more turbulent, and when a few long legs bounced up, they could even see the spring light under the skirt.

Amu Fan seemed to notice where Liu Xin's gaze was looking, and suddenly smiled: "My lord, there is nothing valuable in a small village like ours, but there is one thing that adults must like." ”