Grassland.

The sun is shining, the wind is blowing, and the endless grassland appears in front of you.

This time on the grassland, Nangong Sima took 6 brothers of Ammon, Gilliam, and 20 soldiers. This time I came to survey the terrain, after all, I couldn't pull a large army of thousands of people and put it on the prairie.

Shutera said: "Go straight ahead, and after about forty minutes, you will be able to see Horseshoe Mountain." ”

Nangong Sima looked at the vast grassland and said, "Such a flat grassland is simply impossible to defend, and if we want to gain a foothold here, we can only adopt a better diplomatic strategy." I think there are a lot of nomads living here! ”

"There are 23 large and small ethnic groups, 3 of the big ones, and the others are all small ones, following the trend. As long as we get these three things done, the rest is easy to say. ”

"I'm afraid it won't be able to be done!" Steven said, "If other forces want to enter the grassland, they will inevitably befriend these three families, and at that time, those three families will be watching from the sidelines, sitting on the ground, and we will be passive." ”

Kenny said: "What are you afraid of, if you can't come to martial arts, you can't believe that you can't kill them!" ”

Ammon said: "Don't be verbose, solve the main contradiction first, find a place to settle down, settle down first, and then plan for the long term." ”

"Well, Ammon is right, let's go, let's go to Horseshoe Mountain first!" Nangong Sima clamped his legs, and the chief rushed out, and rode towards Horseshoe Mountain first.

The six brothers and soldiers in the back also followed. Kneel and beg for a hundred black * rock * cabinets

After running wildly all the way, about 30 minutes later, I vaguely saw a small bulge in front of me, a grass-green bulge.

Steven asked as he galloped, "Is that the one in front?" It looks like a pimple, is it a mountain? ”

West also smiled: "At most, it's a small mound, overgrown with grass, haven't people on the grassland ever seen a mountain, and when they see a dirt bag, it's called a mountain?" ”

"You two shut up! Get out of your way! ”

Shutera picked up his pace, and everyone else laughed.

Nangong Sima was also a little skeptical, but he thought, it should be an illusion caused by too far vision, I hope it was a suitable place to camp, otherwise, the flat and vast grassland would not be able to establish a stronghold at all, and it would not be able to defend against the enemy.

As we got closer, Shutra shouted, "Slow down! Something doesn't seem right! ”

When everyone heard that the situation had changed, they all immediately slowed down, and finally stopped.

Shutra looked at the horseshoe mountain in the distance for a while, and said, "There seems to be a smell of burning in the wind, you wait here, I'll go and see first!" ”

As he spoke, Shutra galloped over, but did not go directly, but made a detour from the right side.

Everyone else is waiting here.

Nangong Sima came up from the chieftain, looked at the grass on the ground, and saw that the grass was very mixed, there were long grass and short grass, and there was also rabbit lip grass.

The name of the rabbit lip grass comes from the nomadic saying, which means that the animal eats this grass, and before it is finished, the lips are cut into rabbit lips.

"The grass here is not suitable for horses." Nangong Sima said.

Looking at his feet, Kenny said, "Who knows, maybe the people here aren't horses, they're some other animals." ”

A sound sounded in the grass in the distance, and Nangong Sima stood up and saw Shutra running back, followed by his pet bone wolf.

Coming to him, Shutra said: "There is a caravan temporarily living in the basin, I asked, it is the convoy of the Flying Eagle Clan, exchanged things, and the Hui tribe handed over the business." Because a horse was bitten by a snake, he had to stay. ”

"Eagle Clan? How are they? Nangong Sima asked, "Is it trustworthy?" ”

Shutra said: "Among the three major clans, the Flying Eagle Clan is quite good at talking, there are many strong men in the clan, everyone is good at riding and shooting, and every soldier has a fierce falcon. ”

Nangong Sima thought for a while and said, "Let's go!" ”

Shutera said: "Won't we, we just rush forward with the soldiers?" will scare them. ”

Nangong Sima said: "Didn't you say it was their caravan?" That's naturally profitable. Moreover, they were bitten by snakes. Diplomacy begins! ”

Nangong Sima said as he got on the chief's back, clamped his legs, and swooped out.

The 20 soldiers in the back followed closely, in twos and twos, in a neat line.

Steven smiled: "I don't want to walk behind the soldiers, Lao Tzu is not a big soldier!" So saying, he rode his horse and galloped out.

"Haha!" The other five people also laughed, rode their horses past the soldiers, followed closely behind Nangong Sima, and ran over.

Sure enough, when they ran a hundred meters away, they began to slow down, and they could already see that this horseshoe mountain was tall and a real mountain range, and they needed to look up to see the top.

In the middle, there is a large area of water and grass with clusters of flowers and low trees. A caravan was resting, and when they saw them coming, they immediately took their weapons and mounted their horses, and lined up to meet them.

The two sides are tens of meters apart and stop.

Nangong Sima saw an old man at the head of the opposite side, surrounded by ten sturdy knights, one of whom was holding a banner high. The flag is white with a black falcon embroidered on it.

Those knights were very calm, although they were a little surprised when they looked at the chief's eyes, but they should have experienced life and death on the battlefield, and they quickly stabilized.

The old man looked at Nangong Sima. Wearing loose clothes, he doesn't look rich, but he has a hint of temperament.

Nangong Sima took two steps forward and asked with a smile: "Dare to ask the old man, where did he come from and what did he do?" ”

The old man took a step forward and said, "Stranger, we are the caravan of the Flying Eagle Clan, and we are on the way back, who are you and why are you bringing soldiers?" ”

Nangong Sima said: "We are from the army of the Celestial Empire, passing by here, people are sleepy and tired, and they want to rest, but when they see that the terrain here is suitable, they want to camp for a night, and they have no other meaning." I hope you don't get me wrong. ”

"Uh......" Suddenly a falcon above his head screamed, circled, and landed on the shoulder of a cavalryman. The knight took something out of his pocket and fed it to the falcon.

The knight drove forward, went to the old man's side, and whispered something in his ear.

The old man nodded, looked at Nangong Sima and said, "This place belongs to everyone, you want to camp, we don't have anything to say, just don't disturb each other, don't destroy this place." ”

So saying, the old man rode his horse and went to himself.

Nangong Sima said: "Thank you, we will protect this place." As he spoke, under the gaze of the knights, he clamped his legs and took six brothers and 20 soldiers to a place dozens of meters away from the old man's camp.

The soldiers were on the alert, set up mobile sentinels, and sent Shutra out hunting, only he knew where the animals were, and besides, he had a pet wolf to help.

Nangong Sima gave everyone an anthelmintic agent and an antidote, and if they were bitten, I hoped that this thing could save them.

While the soldiers were packing up the camp, Nangong Sima took Ammon and a soldier and walked along the flank of Horseshoe Mountain.

Horseshoe Mountain may seem small from a distance, but when you get up close, you can see that it is quite large. The mountain is more than 300 meters high, and there is a steep slope on the inside, which can be climbed, but it is very difficult. There is a cliff on the outside, and it is difficult to get up.

The ridges on either side are the only gentle slopes that can be climbed up the mountain, and there are no trees on the ridges, only long grass and rocks. The soil is sandy and gravelly, and most of the stones are inlaid in the soil, which have been naturally eroded into various shapes.

If you want to build a castle here, you have to use stone, and wood can't withstand such strong wind and sun erosion, so wood can only be used to build interior things.

Standing on the gentle slope, Nangong Sima said: "Soldier, draw the graphics here, record what you see and hear, and collect all the information." ”

"Yes, sir!" The soldier began to draw.

"To build, you have to have a lot of stones," Ammon said. The stones on this mountain cannot be moved, and they should all be used to rebuild the mountain on the spot and make this mountain a base camp. ”

Nangong Sima nodded and said, "I also have this idea, but this is very time-consuming and energy-consuming, and our soldiers are afraid that after the construction of this place is completed, they will all become old men." ”

Ammon smiled, "When those prisoners are docile, they can concentrate on building this place." Since there is a stone mountain here, I think there should be many stone mountains elsewhere. Mining stones, transporting, building. ”

Nangong Sima thought about it and said, "This project is too big, let's go back and discuss it again." Let's go, go up and have a look. ”

Nangong Sima, Ai Meng, and the soldiers went up to the top of the mountain from the slope of the ridge together, and suddenly found that the horseshoe mountain was indeed high, which was already good compared to the grassland.

In the distance, you can see the endless grassland, and when you look back, you can see that the vast forest is gray and cloudy. You can also see a faint hill in the distance, which proves that there should be other similar hills here besides Horseshoe Mountain.

I looked at the top of the mountain more than 300 meters wide and the arc is about 600 meters long, not including the bend and the slope of the ridge at both ends. The top is dominated by concave and convex stones, with little soil and sparse vegetation.

Let the soldiers have recorded it, and they will go up the mountain along the ridge on the other side, and will walk to their camp, just past the camp of the old man of the Flying Eagle Clan.

Nangong Sima walked straight over.

Hula, the knights beside the old man stood up, on guard.

Nangong Sima smiled: "Don't be nervous, we are passing by, and I see that your horse seems to be poisoned, I have my own antidote here, you can try it." As he spoke, he took out a bottle of antidote and handed it over.

The old man looked at it, motioned for the knight to take it, and said, "Thank you." When you meet strangers, it's better to rest separately. ”

"Well, let's rest. Don't worry about a little elixir. ”

Nangong Sima took Ammon and the soldiers to his camp, and Shutra had already returned from hunting three wild antelopes, two rabbits, and a handful of wild leeks.

The soldiers cleaned up their prey, set up a fire and barbecued it.

Nangong Sima and Aimeng brothers went to the inner mountain to take a look around, and when they came back, the meat was already good, the aroma was overflowing, although there was no seasoning, but there were wild leeks on it, and it was also very delicious.

There was also a bonfire burning over there, and the smell of wine wafted from it.

Although the soldiers here ate delicious food, they did not have good wine, and they all looked at that side with their eyes.

Nangong Sima smiled: "Don't be afraid of no wine, eat enough, let's go back to the city to buy it!" One day, I will let my brothers have good wine, good meat, and beautiful women and treasures! ”