Chapter 2: Caravans

There were more than 70 people in this small caravan, and the leader of the caravan, who was also known as the "head family", was a middle-aged man with a weathered face but also quite majestic, Li Yaozu.

The political situation and people's livelihood in the Qing Dynasty are said to be 50 ethnic groups, but in fact they are 50 surnames, and 99.99 percent of the people of the entire Qing Dynasty belong to these 50 surnames.

The surname Li, among the fifty surnames, also belongs to the middle and upper classes, and the mother family of one of the 24 princes of the Qing State is the Li family.

This small caravan, with the exception of guides and a dozen external guards, were all members of the Li family.

Li Yaozu is not only the principal, but also the elder.

"Lao Wang, what's the situation?" In the carriage, Li Yaozu stared at the guide Lao Wang with burning eyes, and the faint majesty made the latter a little afraid to look at him.

The beasts in the caravan are naturally camels, and most of the vehicles are trucks, but only two camel carts are located in the center of the caravan, one is for several family members of Li Yaozu, and the other is for Li Yaozu to discuss things, just like now.

"Toujia, there is a problem with that gust of wind just now." Lao Wang is also an old man, going south and north, suppressing the fear in his heart, and responding, "According to my decades of experience in the desert, that gust of wind, nine times out of ten, is man-made. ”

"Are you sure?!" Li Yaozu was shocked and grabbed Lao Wang's clothes.

"I dare to vouch for this old life!"

Inside the carriage, there was an instant silence, and the atmosphere was solemn, as calm as before the storm.

Li Yaozu was able to become the leader of the caravan, and his knowledge was naturally extraordinary. In this vast sea of sand, there is a good chance that people who can drive the celestial phenomena to create flowing winds with manpower are......

Alchemist!!

The head of a caravan is neither big nor small. Whether it is an alchemist in his country or an alchemist in Amistolis, Li Yaozu has seen it, and with various rumors and chronicles, he also understands the difference between the two.

The alchemists of Amestories paid attention to practicality, were extremely utilitarian, and were more or less aggressive and lethal due to the influence of their own political situation and popular customs; On the other hand, in the Qing Dynasty, alchemists advocated the natural way of heaven and earth, paid attention to the unity of heaven and man, and studied more on the method of refining lead and mercury to gather the spirit into a pill, focusing on auxiliary and spiritual cultivation.

This is not to say that the combat power of the Qing alchemist is lower than that of the alchemist. On the contrary, as far as Li Yaozu knew, those clever alchemists who existed in legends were able to change the celestial phenomena and drive the power of heaven and earth for their own use, and they were extremely powerful.

It is rumored that the barbarians of the southern jungle once almost broke through the capital of Huxiang Prefecture, and the patriarch of the Zeng clan at that time personally went to Kunlun to invite a powerful alchemist, cast a spell to control Yunmengze Shui Yuan, and evolved into a monstrous wave, which swept tens of thousands of barbarians into the bottom of the vast Yunmengze Lake, becoming the blood food of the endless fierce beasts in it.

Since then, the barbarians have not dared to invade the Central Plains for more than 100 years.

The words of the guide Lao Wang made Li Yaozu suddenly recall this story, and a huge wave suddenly set off in his mind, and huge waves were churning.

After a burst of blue and white, Li Yaozu's expression changed violently for a while, his fists were clenched, and he made up his mind. "This is my opportunity, and I must not miss it!!"

After learning from Lao Wang that the person driving the wind was near the railroad tracks in front of the convoy, Li Yaozu immediately ordered the convoy to speed up.

The other side.

After taking a shower, Zhang Sammei used alchemy to create a small pavilion-like building and took out a small mobile kitchen from the storage equipment.

Forge into a formation and start!!

The silver light flashed, the sand flowed well, and within a few minutes, there was a small pile of ingredients in front of Zhang Shen.

Although the desert is inhospitable, it is also home to a large number of creatures, especially near the abandoned railroad tracks. Using alchemy, Zhang Shen quickly collected ingredients such as non-poisonous sand scorpions, lizards, and cacti.

Zhang Shen is a foodie, so he deliberately redeemed some cooking skills from Da Zhi, which was directly imprinted in his mind, and he could call it at any time when needed.

The ingredients were quickly processed, smeared with sauce, and threaded with bamboo skewers, and Zhang Shen began a pleasant barbecue meeting.

Ding Ding Ding! Ding Ding Ding!!

Just as the food was about to be cooked and ready to eat, a crisp camel bell sounded in Zhang Shen's ears.

Well?! Zhang Shen built a pergola with his hand and looked over, an ordinary-sized caravan was walking in his direction.

Because there are a group of ruthless robbers in the desert, such as the sand pirates, who come and go like the wind and kill like hemp, each caravan will have a role similar to that of an army scout, scout, equipped with the best riding beasts, and spy on the movements of all directions.

Zhang Shenzhi said that he had already entered the caravan's sight, and he didn't bother to avoid it, so he turned his skewers by himself.

Li Yaozu had already left the carriage and walked at the front of the line.

He had good eyesight, and with just a few casual glances, he took everything in the gazebo into his eyes.

It doesn't look like a lot of age...... The clothes on his body are strange, but the materials and needlework are like never before...... The gazebo that mysteriously appeared and the small room (bathroom) next to it...... Something that is not clear about how to make a barbecue......

All kinds of signs show that the young man in his sight is not simple.

The skewers were just finished, and the tantalizing aroma of spices from the other world made the caravan members who had eaten dry food for almost a month stretch their necks one by one, their faces full of longing, and their throats stirred.

Li Yaozu swallowed the saliva in his mouth hard, turned over from the camel, tidied up his robe, walked slowly to the outside of the pavilion, stopped, and arched his hand: "Old man Li Yaozu, I am the head of the caravan, and it is really a great fate to be able to meet left and right in this vast sea of sand, and I can't help but come forward to disturb it, and I hope that the son is not strange." ”

"It's okay, come up."

Zhang Shen's lightness made Li Yaozu firm in his heart, and when he came in and sat down, he couldn't stop the thoughts churning in his heart.

Seeing that the old man on the other side was a little excited, Zhang Shen didn't know why, but he didn't have the heart to investigate: "Come, Elder Li, try my unique secret barbecue." ”

Li Yaozu's face turned pale, and he took it with both hands: "Dare to ask the name of the son?" ”

Zhang Shen was a little uncomfortable by his seriousness: "My name is Zhang Shen, old man, you don't want to shout from the son, it's uncomfortable, just call my name directly." ”

"Then the old man trespassed." In just a few words, Li Yaozu saw Zhang Shen's temperament, and called him "Little Brother Zhang" in his words, as if he was on the same level as Zhang Shen.

Zhang Shen is not a person who is particularly good at words, but Li Yaozu is too powerful, communicating with him gives Zhang Shen a feeling like a spring breeze, and unconsciously, half an hour has passed, and the relationship between the two has become much better.

"It's getting late, and the caravan still has to find a place to stay, so the old man will leave first, and come back tomorrow to bother."

Zhang Shen was a little unsatisfied, and it was not good to stay any longer, so he swept his eyes and fell on the uneaten cacti, sand scorpion, and desert lizards in the mobile kitchen, so he gave a favor to Li Yaozu.

His family has also eaten dry food for a long time, Li Yaozu was overjoyed and hurriedly thanked him.

Watching the caravan drift away, landing somewhere two miles away, setting up a tent, and setting up a camp to make a fire, Zhang Shen's mood sank.

In the conversation with Li Yaozu just now, the latter took the initiative to confess his origins, he was a member of the Li clan of the Qing State, and he talked to himself for half his life, and finally got into the position of the head of the caravan, responsible for the transaction with Amster Storis, and he was also well-known in the Li clan.

As for his own origin, Zhang Shen didn't mention much, but said that he came out to travel to increase his knowledge.

The Zhang family is also a big family in the Qing Kingdom, and it is a few points stronger than the Li family in all aspects, but Zhang Shen didn't want to get involved, so he didn't say that he was a member of the Zhang family.

He could sense that Li Yaozu took the initiative to make friends because he wanted something, which made him relax a little.

Nothing to be courteous, either a traitor or a thief.

Being able to confirm the reason for the other party's enthusiastic performance, Zhang Shen was much more relieved. As for what Li Yaozu wants to get from himself, after a long time, he will naturally know the truth.

Nothing was said all night.

The next day, as Zhang Shen expected, Li Yaozu warmly invited him to go with the caravan and return to the Qing Kingdom together.

Zhang Shen thought for a few seconds and agreed. Such a refreshing attitude made the corners of Li Yaozu's eyebrows jump, and he thought about it for a long time in the middle of the night before he could think of all kinds of persuasion words, which made him really a little entangled.

In the next few days, Zhang Shen followed the caravan to the Qing Kingdom.

There are many people and mixed eyes, and Zhang Shen is no longer good at using alchemy to make water, capture ingredients, and build houses, and the quality of life has plummeted, and the original "white-clothed Shengxue" has gradually been blown yellow by the wind and sand, and it looks a little "normal".

As everyone knows, the members of the caravan were speechless to the point of numbness for someone's behavior of drinking water at every turn and even feeding the camels with sweet water. If Li Yaozu hadn't said hello in advance, they would have jumped out and said it well.

However, Zhang Shen's quality of life has declined, for the caravan members, since someone joined the team, drinking water and food have been provided very sufficiently, and they can taste the delicious taste of adding expensive spices from time to time, and the standard of living has risen like a rocket, and Zhang's image has changed from a "loser" at the beginning to a "wronged leader......

"Eh, Brother Li, didn't you say that there are a lot of sand thieves in the desert? Why are we all going all the way, we are about to reach the border of the Qing Kingdom, or have we not encountered a single sand thief? ”

Although Zhang Shen has experienced several worlds, he has really never seen a serious bandit, especially a sand thief with such characteristics, it is a pity to think about it.

The situation of the Qing Kingdom in this world is somewhat similar to that of the ancient Xia Kingdom, which has more special significance for Zhang Shen, who grew up watching martial arts movies and costume films.

Li Yaozu smiled dumbly: "Little brother, you are a master of art and bold, you don't care." For those of us who run the desert trade route, the word sand thief simply represents death. ”

"It's okay if you talk to me in private, don't ask the rest of the caravan like this, it's very unlucky." Zhang Shen's regret was overflowing, so that Li Yaozu didn't know what to say.

Zhang Shen asked about the sand pirates in the morning of the same day.

In the afternoon, not long after the caravan departed, a scout rode a camel and returned quickly.

"Oh no, sand pirates...... The Sand Thieves are coming!! ”