Starting from Yunjin City, it is expected that the march will take five days to reach Xizhou, and continue north for another seven days to reach the trade fortress Lanxiangcheng. Passing through a desert outside Lanxiang City, it is the Beiliang City of Jiangzhou, the boundary of Dirong Territory. Xizhou is full of mulberry trees, the climate is suitable for silkworm raising, rich in silk fabrics, is the most important source of silk products in Dingtao. The terrain of Jiangzhou is flat, mostly grassland, the beef and mutton and dairy products produced can be called a must, because the food is not easy to store, need to eat the fresh meat and milk processed on the same day, so only the nearby states and counties can buy fresh meat, fresh milk, and further away, you can only buy air-dried meat and milk blocks.

Although the two cities of Lanxiang and Beiliang are separated from the desert, but they are not too far apart, the trade between the two cities is frequent throughout the ages, the caravans from the south to the north are active, since the fall of the Shang Dynasty, this place is the fortress that connects Dingtao and Dirong.

Because of the caravans coming and going here, in order to strive for profits and save travel expenses, each time the goods transported are quite weighty, and because the caravans are running around to buy and sell, it is inevitable to have enough silver tickets, which gradually attracts the attention of horse thieves. Familiar with the terrain, these horse thieves hid in the sand dunes of the trade routes between the two cities, ambushing passing merchants and looting their belongings.

In the fourth year of Xiangyong, horse thieves gathered into villages, and all caravans passing through here must prepare rich money for them, otherwise the goods will be robbed, and the horse thieves will sometimes detain the merchants to demand money from their families. For a time, the trade routes between the two countries were blocked, the caravans lost their livelihoods, the people of the two cities did not sell well, goods were hoarded, prices fell, and the city markets also lost their former prosperity.

Later, Mu Yuan led a team to annihilate the horse thieves in one fell swoop, and the trade route returned to its former bustling appearance.

The more he went north, the scenery on the road changed from the graceful of the mountains and rivers to the vast expanse of the sky and the earth, and the air became drier and drier. The scorching midday sun had already burned his body a little, but the sweat was quickly evaporated before it stayed on his body for a moment.

On the twelfth day, the army finally saw the Lanxiang City Tower, and before entering the city, they saw a crowd of people outside the city gate, and they didn't know what had happened.

The army walked a few miles, and suddenly someone recognized the word Mu on the military flag and shouted

"Mu Jiajun, it's General Mu who has arrived!"

The crowd suddenly rushed over, and Mu Yuan hurriedly ordered the generals to stop, so as not to injure the people by mistake. I saw these people holding dry food and water bladders in their hands, rushing to the front of the team and asking if General Mu Yuanmu was in the ranks.

Hearing this, Mu Yuan dismounted and walked into the crowd, and said softly

"It's Mu Yuan down there."

I don't know who in the crowd took the lead in kneeling on the ground, praying, "Please General Mu save us again, the villain is willing to offer these food and water to all the soldiers, just to destroy these horse thieves." The people around him also knelt down one after another.

Mu Yuan hurriedly saw this and hurriedly said, "This is Mu Yuan's internal matter, why do you need to make such a big gift, please get up quickly." And he lifted up the people in front of him.

The horse thieves made a comeback, extremely ferocious, and their methods were vicious, and not only were all the goods robbed by the murderous caravans, but none of the personnel survived. Lanzhou City is a fortress, although there are garrison troops, but they have not received military orders, and the garrison troops will not leave the city. Afterwards, the chambers of commerce in Lanxiangcheng had selected young and middle-aged men to form a militia group to escort the passing caravans, but to little effect. Recently, the number of caravans has plummeted, and the occasional passing caravan has heard about this, and they have also chosen to stay in Lanxiang City temporarily, and wait for the horse thieves to be eliminated before leaving the city.

A few days ago, there was a caravan from Shuzhou into the embroidery, all the way to Xizhou, said that Shu embroidery in recent years in Dirong quite a market, dignitaries must have a few Shu embroidery screens in the home to be considered tasteful, the official eunuch woman rich lady in the wardrobe if there is no Shu embroidery clothes will be laughed at at home not favored. The leader of the caravan hurried back to Dijon, and asked the caravan militia to escort him all the way, expecting that the militia was strong and armed, and it should be enough to defend against horse thieves. Unexpectedly, the caravan and the escort militia entered the desert and there was no news, most of them were killed. For a while, the residents of the two cities were panicked, although there were garrisons stationed in Lanxiang City, but the horse thieves were not satisfied with robbing the caravan, and they might break into the city gate to rob the house.

Mu Yuan calmed the people's emotions, and went to the county government in the city with the defenders who came to meet them, and the county lieutenant Zeng Fang, the general of the garrison army, He Ming, and the steward of the Northwest Business League, Wang Ping, had been waiting in the back hall of the county government for a long time.

Mu Yuan exchanged a few words of greeting with the three of them, and then began to inquire about the horse thief rebellion.

"I heard that the horse thief was ferocious and abnormal, what do the three of you think?"

"The last general once went into the desert alone at night to investigate the traces of horse thieves, but so far only the body of the merchant was hidden by the yellow sand. The last general has examined the wounds, and almost all of them are fatal with a single knife, and these horse thieves are very skilled. ”

Mu Yuan was listening to He Ming talk about the horse thief, but he saw that Wang Ping, the manager of the Northwest Business Alliance, almost wanted to interrupt, as if he had something to discuss

"What is the king's stewardship?"

"The dissatisfied general said that the militia group that went to escort the caravan a few days ago was led by Xiao'er, and this past few days, I am afraid that something has happened, and the villain has a reluctant request, and he also asks the general to fulfill it."

"He is the son of the king's steward! Mourning, ask the king to take charge of things, but it is okay to say. ”

"When the villain wants to ask the general to suppress the bandits, if he can see the body of the child, I hope that the general can help the villain take out the body of my son, so that he can live in the family ancestral hall."

"Okay, Mu Yuan will take Ling Lang's body out and hand it over to the steward. I don't know what happened to the caravan at that time, but Steward Wang still remembers the number of caravans, how many trucks of goods there were, and how many people were sent by the militia led by Ling Lang to escort it? ”

"The caravan led about twenty camels, and the camels were loaded with a full load, and in addition to the five servants who led the camels, the leader also hired two guides, and the child took twenty young men of our militia regiment to escort them. But, I didn't expect that... When Wang Ping said this, he remembered that he had been separated from his young son, yin and yang, and couldn't help but feel sad, and it was difficult to speak for a while.

The county lieutenant Zeng Fang sat next to Wang Ping, comforting him and saying, "General, although the caravan is unarmed and difficult to parry the horse thieves, the militia regiment is full of strong young men, and they carry weapons with them, so they will not be easily captured. I'm afraid there are a lot of horse thieves. ”

"It is still too early for the county lieutenant to assert this, although the last general did not find out the whereabouts of the thief at that time, but there are not many places where there are fresh water resources in the desert north of the city, and the last general has been looking for it at that time, but no trace of the thief has been found. If there are a large number of people, it is inevitable that their whereabouts will not be exposed. But in the eyes of the last general, it may be that this group of horse thieves is only strong in martial arts, but they are not numerous. ”

"What Commander He said is reasonable, then the top priority at present is to find out where the thieves are and how many people there are. Can the county lieutenant have a topographic map of the desert outside the city? ”

"Yes, some, someone will bring up the map of the desert north of the city."

He Ming took the map presented by the soldier, spread it on the long table, and pointed out to Mu Yuan the three water sources he had explored and the place where the body was found.

In the desert north of the city, the sand grains are extremely fine, and if the sand dunes inside go straight up and down, the legs and feet are easy to sink into, and it is very difficult to climb. Therefore, the route usually taken by merchants is basically meandering, avoiding the dunes as much as possible, or climbing along the ridge of the dune. There are three bends in the trade route from Lanxiang City to Xiliang City, and the water sources are basically distributed next to these three bends, and the caravan corpse that He Ming discovered is near the bend in the center of the desert.

"It stands to reason that horse thieves survive in the desert, even if they rob the caravan of beef and mutton, but the caravan has limited fresh water and cannot support it for a long time. Moreover, almost no one dares to leave the city now, and if a horse thief disguises himself as a common person and enters the city to buy supplies, it must be particularly eye-catching. Mu Yuan thought that what Commander He said was very true, and the thieves must have settled near a few water sources. ”

"But the last visit was nothing, this...

"Commander He, have you ever been up to the sandstone wall next to these two water sources?"

He Ming took a closer look at the two water sources near Lanxiang City and the center of the desert that Mu Yuan was referring to, and the map drew patterns in the shape of mountains and rocks near the water sources.

"No, the last general did not see the fire near the water source, and there was a faint wind and sand at that time, the last general was afraid of a sandstorm and lost his way back to the city, so he did not go around the sandstone wall to investigate again."

"It doesn't matter. I have a deputy general in this army, and my ancestor is good at observing the art of the sky, and when he chooses a clear night, he will also ask Commander He to go with us to investigate again, and maybe he can get something else. ”

The king of the Northwest Shang League is in charge of the palace

Wang Ping's eldest son, Wang Dongben, was pacing back and forth in the main courtyard, anxiously waiting for his father to return from the county office, hoping that there would be an explanation for his younger brother Wang Chu. As soon as he saw his father's sedan chair falling in front of the door, Wang Dong hurriedly went out to greet his father

"Father, did the general promise to help find his brother's body, the general has a plan for the horse thief."

"I agreed, but there is no progress on the matter of the horse thief for the time being, and we will have to wait for the investigation to make arrangements later."

"When is the general going to investigate?"

"I said I would wait a few days to find a clear night without wind and sand."

"Isn't it that I don't know when I will be able to take my brother back to the ancestral hall. Hey, it's all my fault, I should have persuaded my brother not to do anything in the first place, we don't know anything about the strength of horse thieves, why do we need to escort any caravan. Now, it's really too much to regret now, how young my brother is. Wang Dong's eyes were red as he spoke, and Wang Ping patted Wang Dong's hand comfortingly.

"Don't blame yourself, we never expected the horse thief to be so fierce. Chu'er was in high spirits at the time, and he had to go, saying that he would stabilize people's hearts on behalf of our business alliance, and the result... Hey, I'm afraid this is your brother's life. ”

"The most hateful thing is those horse thieves, if they find their traces, the child will definitely ask General Mu to go to suppress the bandits together, and he will definitely kill the thieves and avenge his brother."

"Hugh is messing around, this matter is dangerous, how can you participate, everything is up to the general."

Although Wang Dong listened to his father's reprimand and did not contradict him again, he had his own plans in his heart.