The weather is getting hotter, it is undoubtedly a torture for Qin Dong and his subordinates to wrap their whole bodies in clothes for a hundred cavalry archers, after three days of eastward advance through Prov, the two caravans left the territory of the Xiongnu Empire and entered a buffer zone on the border between the Xiongnu Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire, which is located in the area west of the border city of Dimite of the Eastern Roman Empire, which belongs to the Sanzhi zone, and the Huns and the Eastern Romans and the nominal owners of this territory, the Skir people, do not care, there are no people in this area, But here live some horse bandits who make a living by robbing and extorting caravans.

Although they maintain the rule of non-aggression on the surface, they also secretly engage in some mutual annexation, and if they are attacked by the officers and troops, these bandits will form a group to deal with the officers and troops.

The Xiongnu Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire were not without the strength to eliminate these horse bandits, but in view of the fact that leaving this buffer zone is also very beneficial to maintaining the current situation, neither side has taken action against this area, which makes the horse bandits in this area live a free life, eating meat and drinking a lot.

The horse bandits are not the kind of people who kill and sell goods, they sit on this territory and collect tolls from passing caravans along the way, so as to make a living, if they plunder here, then the caravan will not take this road again, if there is no caravan to go this way, then it is difficult for the horse bandits to make a living, although they do not know that there is an idiom "fishing with all their might", but they understand this truth. Of course, if the passing caravans refuse to pay the tolls, these horse bandits are not good men and women, and they naturally want to kill people and sell goods. A warning to the caravans that followed, take a look. This is the end of refusing to pay tolls, and only by paying tolls honestly can we pass safely.

"Master Peteaus. After the hill in front of you, you will enter the three-regardless zone, and until Dimet, which is more than a hundred miles away to the east, belongs to the territory of the horse bandits, and there are ten large horse bandits living here, the smallest of which is more than 100 people, the largest is more than 500 people, and there are 26 small horse bandits, the largest is 50 people, and the small group of horse bandits has a few people, and there are more than a dozen people. And there are three big mountains here, and there are many small hills among them, so these three areas have the title of 'three mountains and thirty-six villages'. The largest of all the bandits was called the Hurricane Bandits, and the leader of this bandit was Faisal, a powerful Sassanid Persian (Sassanid Empire, considered the second Persian Empire), who numbered about 500 people, mostly Sassanid Persians. It's all cavalry, coming and going like the wind, but don't worry, Lord Peteaus, these horse bandits are just trying to make money. Under normal circumstances, we will not kill people and oversell goods, as long as we pay the toll, we will be safe! Gebuus pointed to the hill in front of him.

Although Gebuus said it so easily, Qin Dong didn't think so. Horse bandits, or bandits, never speak of faith, as long as the caravan is worth more than they can endure the temptation. The bottom line of confusion. The horse bandits will definitely break the rule of not looting, only tolls, killing all the caravans and stealing goods and belongings. Qin Dong roughly calculated, Nagebuus's caravan was only a small caravan, and the goods transported back this time were not worth much, the key was that his own caravan with fifty carts was carrying rare things, and the value was very high, and the goods carried by these two caravans were worth enough for a team of three hundred people to eat for three years, isn't this a huge and coveted wealth? Which horse bandit can withstand it?

Hearing Gebuus say this, Peteaus immediately saluted and smiled: "This is the first time I go to Constantinople, many of the rules of the merchant are not very clear, along the way, I also asked Lord Gebuus to take care of more, and we will pay as much as the other party needs, but I also ask Lord Gebuus to help in negotiations, and if Lord Gebuus has anything to do in Pazar in the future, even if I look for me, I will never refuse!" ”

Seeing that Peteus had lifted himself so high, his face was also bright, and he agreed very happily: "No problem, since we are going together, we are friends, and if we are friends, we must help each other, Master Peteus can rest assured!" ”

Not long after passing through a hill in front, the caravan of Qin Dong and others really encountered horse bandits, these horse bandits had no courage to run out of avenues, and they set up cards on the roadside to collect tolls in broad daylight like the government, and the caravan paid the toll before they were allowed to pass guò.

Qin Dong saw the skeleton flag shaking on a hill behind him from a distance, and after a while, he saw a puff of smoke and dust rising from the hill, and the caravan went further and saw that the horse bandits had set up a barricade post on the side of the road out of the mountain pass, a thick horizontal log was erected in the middle of the road, and several cavalry stood on both sides of the road, and there were faint figures flickering on the halfway side of the hill, and from time to time there was a flash of metal reflection.

Qin Dong followed Peteaus and Gebuus at the front of the two caravans, and Gebuus introduced in a low voice: "This is the territory of the first horse bandits, this horse bandit is not very numerous, only about one hundred and ten people, but the terrain here is very good, they occupy the natural advantage here, relying on this territory to collect tolls, the general caravan does not dare not give it, otherwise they rush down from the middle of the mountain, and the general caravan guards are difficult to resist, so in order not to make trouble for themselves, the caravans generally will not refuse to pay the toll!" Don't worry, Lord Peteaus, the guards of our two caravans together are close to two hundred, and ordinary horse bandits dare not plunder us."

Gebuus's caravan was relatively small, so his caravan was in front, while Qin Dong's caravan was behind, just in case, to prevent these horse bandits from jumping off the wall, Qin Dong explained to Peteus and then rode back to his caravan, once the horse bandits halfway up the mountain rushed down, he could also command the guards to protect the goods.

Halfway up the mountainside, a Germanic man with a thick braid carried a sledgehammer to look at the caravan passing under the mountain and was silent, and a person next to him said in a rough voice: "Ruth, you see that caravan behind it, there are fifty carts, and I don't know what kind of goods are loaded on the carat, why don't we send someone over to check it?" ”

The leader of the horse bandits, known as Ruth, turned his head and asked, "Send someone to check what?" Even if you know what's on the cart, what can you do? Even if it's all gold, what can you do? ”

The eyes of the people around him flashed greedily: "If it is a very valuable thing, of course we have to cut it all, even if it is just food, it is enough for us to eat for two years!" ”

Ruth snorted twice and mocked, "Then you take someone to intercept all the things!" ”

"Really? Okay, I'll take someone to kill and steal something! The man was overjoyed, and immediately drew his broadsword and prepared to give orders.

Ruth grabbed him and slapped him and slapped the man, and before the man could react, he scolded: "You idiot, do you think that with our few men, we can plunder the caravan with nearly two hundred guards?" Even if we succeed, I'm afraid we won't have a few people left around us who can breathe, and when that time comes, will you be able to tow these carts away? Can we still hold these hills? If those people in the west hear the news of our great loss of strength, they will definitely bring people over to grab our territory! What will we do then? ”

The subordinate finally understood, these two caravans could not be robbed, even if the cart was full of gold, it could only let these people pass through Guò, he was unwilling to say: "Then let them pass like this?" Shall we just collect some tolls? ”

Ruth said, "Then what else do you want?" With our strength, we can only collect some tolls, and if we want to loot, we must develop to a scale similar to Faisal's troops, let them pass, let the people in the mountains behind them worry about their brains, and send people to follow far behind, but don't be discovered by the caravan people, if the one behind does it, you must notify me as much as possible! ”

"Understood!" (To be continued......)