It was unusually hot at noon in the desert, and Taozi was lying on the sandstone wall to stand guard, although he had worn an anti-sand veil to cover his mouth and nose, but occasionally there was a gust of wind, and the sand grains were still a little blind. The sun shone on the business route, looking at it all deformed, Taozi stared straight into the distance, and gradually became a little distracted. Suddenly, he felt that someone slapped him on the back, and he was so frightened that Taozi twitched, and turned around to see that it was Xin Ye.

"Taozi, your vigilance is not good, the enemy has come to your back and slapped you, what are you still sending over there?"

"Boss, where else can there be around here, but it seems that there is no business today."

"It doesn't matter, then you can go with me and get some water."

Taozi hurriedly got up, patted the sand on his body, and followed Xin Ye to the water source to fill the water. Taozi has always admired the boss very much, among the brothers, the old brain is the best, and the martial arts are also the highest, the key is that the boss is also very handsome, with three-dimensional facial features, straight eyebrow bones and nose bridge, deep eye sockets, but the eyeballs are slightly convex, but this does not affect the eyes of the girls who go to the market every time they look at him. Taozi touched his chin hidden under the flesh again, sighed, slowed down his originally brisk pace, took the water bladder, and moved towards the water source.

Coming down from the sandstone wall, you have to pass by a few dry poplar trees, and every time Xin Ye likes to come here to look at the poplar trees on the way to fetch water. In the past, there was an old dry tree at the entrance of the village, but it was much taller than these, and the children in the village used that tree as a stronghold and often played under it.

Later, the government recruited people to build the Shenji Palace, and I thought that my father would add some income to the family, but what I didn't expect was the news that my father was killed as a rebel, and my mother couldn't stand the blow and fell ill. At that time, everyone was in danger, where to find anything Langzhong, and it didn't take long for my mother to leave.

In order to get a bite to eat, Xin Ye joined the army with his friends in the village, but he was too young and only served as a handyman in the army, washing and cooking and cleaning the soldiers. In those years, the soldiers were very busy, going around to help the court eliminate the remnants of the previous dynasty. It is said that it is the remnants of the previous dynasty, and there are many laborers who, like my father, can't stand the oppression and rise up. Although he could already count the heads of military merit with Mu Ran's help later, the first time he saw the unwilling eyes of the deceased, it still made Xin Ye have nightmares for several nights.

But I didn't expect that after several tosses, I would now take my brothers to become horse thieves. A wry smile tugged at the corner of Xin Ye's mouth, his gaze fell to the sand, and a severed poplar branch that fell to the ground caught his attention.

Xin Ye felt a little uneasy, there was no sandstorm last night, where did the broken branches come from? He thought of the crack in the cave last night when the wind blew a sharp cry, and called the waves that walked towards the water source.

"Taozi, did you really close the door of the cave last night?"

"Yes, Boss, you believe me"

"Then you came out of the cave and really didn't find anyone else?"

"I took a torch and shone it around, but I didn't find anyone else."

Xin Ye still sensed that something was wrong,

"Taozi, you use the eagle to send a message to the brothers in Lanxiang City, and ask if Mu Yuan is here."

"Gotcha"

Inside Lanxiang City

Before dawn, Wang Ping, the steward of the Northwest Business Alliance, was still asleep, when he heard a noise in the courtyard, he got up and put on his nightgown, and called the servants at the door to come in and light the lamp.

"What's so noisy out there?"

"Master, there is news from the merchant alliance over there in Xiliang City, saying that horse thieves have infiltrated the city and robbed several caravans parked in the inn in the middle of the night."

"What? The horse thief has already entered the city? Quick, change my clothes quickly, I'm going to meet General Mu. ”

Due to the large number of people, the county government and the garrison barracks could not be arranged, and Mu Yuan led a thousand soldiers to temporarily camp outside the south gate. Wang Ping rushed to Mu Yuan's tent and it was already bright outside, and it happened that He Ming was discussing the next move in the tent, and when the two heard that Wang Ping came to ask for a meeting, they hurriedly invited him into the tent.

"General Mu, Commander He, the big thing is not good, the horse thief has already attacked Xiliang City!"

"What? When was it a war with Dijon's army? ”

"Back to the general, it happened last night, and the business alliance sent a letter saying that the thieves sneaked into the inn at night and robbed the temporary caravan."

"The city gates are closed at night, and the walls should be patrolled by soldiers, how can thieves enter."

"The thieves climbed up the walls and knocked out the patrolmen who had entered."

"In this way, how did they get what they had looted out of the city?"

"This time, the thieves only robbed the gold, silver, soft and silver tickets, and did not remove any goods. Presumably it was also due to the inconvenience of transportation. ”

"The patrol was knocked unconscious, didn't anyone else find out?"

"General, the last general thinks that Xiliang City should be similar to our Lanxiang City, and it usually changes its guard every half an hour at night. The thief should have been stuck at the right time. ”

"How did the Xiliang City side conclude that it was the same wave of desert horse thieves."

"This... Since the fifth year of Xiangyong's general quelled the chaos, the two cities have always been stable, that is, they have only recently begun to be unpeaceful. Looking at the direction of the thief's escape last night, it is indeed the direction of the depths of the desert, therefore... ”

"General, fortunately, we made an unannounced visit the night before, otherwise I am afraid that we will collide with the returning thieves." When He Ming heard this, he felt a little palpitating.

Mu Yuan felt that the thief's move was a bit reckless,

"The horse thieves should not know that the imperial court has sent troops to come, and they have been waiting in the trade route for a long time, the caravan has piled up, and it will take at least a month more to make a detour, and the journey will be tiring, and there will always be people who will take risks. Why risk being surrounded and suppressed, rush into the city and rob money. ”

"General, now that no caravan dares to enter the desert, the horse thieves are afraid that they will not be able to hold back and enter the city."

Mu Yuan heard what Wang Ping said, and felt that the horse thief acted decisively and viciously this time, only seeking to make money quickly, and it seemed that he had never considered collecting money from the road at the long-term station of the trade route. Then it is not completely logical to forcibly enter the city and rob without caravans passing by for several days in a row.

"Can you see the shape of a thief?"

"There were about dozens of thieves, most of the patrolmen were knocked unconscious, and only one person was killed in a head-on confrontation with the thieves. In the inn, the horse thieves ran away after robbing the money, and the merchants resisted and suffered some injuries, but no one died. ”

"Not all killed? Why act so differently than in the desert ... ”

"The last general thinks that I am afraid that the horse thieves are afraid of being outnumbered in the city, and it is better to rob the money than to get into a bitter fight."

Mu Yuan still frowned when he heard this, and he always felt that this matter was a little strange.

"If it's really the same wave of horse thieves, there may be some action in the short term, and Xiliang City may not be able to go. In order to prevent horse thieves from infiltrating Lanxiang City, the city wall also asked Commander He to strengthen the guard. In addition, I am afraid that the plan we discussed before will be postponed for a while, and we will have to go to the thief again... ”

Wang Dong followed his father all the way, originally just waiting in front of the tent, but when he heard Mu Yuan say that it would take some more time, he rushed into the study angrily

"General Mu, since you have found out where the thieves are, why don't you lead these thousand soldiers to suppress the bandits, even if the soldiers brought by the general are not enough, there are also the defenders of the city can go together"

"Steward Wang, what does Ling Lang mean by this?" Seeing that someone broke in and interrupted the discussion of several people, Mu Yuan was a little displeased, his expression was cold, he didn't look at Wang Dong at all, stared straight at Wang Ping, hoping that he would give him an explanation.

Wang Ping hurriedly called someone to stop Wang Dong and wanted to pull him out of the room. Wang Dong was not convinced, struggling to get rid of the restraints of others, and was so excited that the tendons in his neck flared up.

"General Mu, my brother was killed by horse thieves, and he died without looking away. The general led so many troops that he was afraid of the little horse thief, has the heroic general ten years ago passed away? ”

Wang Ping listened to what his son said, and the more he talked, the more excessively he spoke, and quickly asked people to cover his mouth and forcibly lift him down. On the other side, he quickly turned around and apologized to Mu Yuan. Mu Yuan waved his hand and asked everyone to stand back, he needed to calm down and think about his next move.