Several capable Pegasus scouts followed Li Jiangyao closely and quietly approached the enemy's ranks.

Last night, in a beautiful ambush in the woods, almost all of the 200 horse bandits were hanged, and only a dozen or so lucky guys escaped death and ran back to the main brigade of the horse bandits.

Li Jiangyao was hanging behind them and touched the current place.

Obviously, the whole army of horse bandits became very vigilant because of the unexpected attack of that team, and they released horse scouts in all directions from a distance, so that Li Jiangyao and they did not dare to get too close.

At a cursory glance, these bandits are not simple.

The first is the size of the population. Ordinary horse bandits often have only a dozen people, dozens or hundreds of people are enough to attract the attention of the local government, but the gang in front of them, there are as many as five or six thousand, which is completely the posture of an army.

Secondly, the weapons and equipment of these horse bandits should not be underestimated, although they have a variety of clothing and costumes, some wear full armor, some wear half armor, and some do not wear armor at all, and there are all kinds of helmets and hats, all styles. However, the weapons in their hands are the standard of the regular army.

Whether it is a short-handled narrow knife, or a long spear bow and arrow, they are all common guys in the armies of the Western Xinjiang countries, and they are by no means ordinary bandits and horse thieves.

In other words, the origin of these horse bandits is also very interesting.

The large army of horse bandits rushed to the small oasis where fierce fighting broke out last night, and after a brief inspection of the messy battlefield, they hurriedly set off and chased straight down the footsteps of Lin Feng and the others.

Li Jiangyao knew that the other party was coming for him, so he hurriedly beckoned his subordinates, followed the trail and galloped wildly, and finally caught up with the Pegasus scout's team outside Metasequoia City.

As soon as everyone entered the city, they hurried straight to the city guard's mansion, handed over the official document to the Chechi officials, and met the water sequoia city guard Mamu.

Ma Mu is a native of Chechi, in his forties, and his face is full of vicissitudes.

Here, he has a dual identity, he is not only the city guard of Metasequoia City under the King of Chechiguo, but also the Zhengqipin Metasequoia County Decree specially ordered by the Holy Tang Dynasty.

This is an ingenious measure created by the imperial court in order to maintain the stability of Western Xinjiang: some Western Xinjiang people who are interested in the Holy Tang Dynasty have been specially selected and trained to become important local officials, so as to reconcile the relationship between the people of Western Xinjiang and the Holy Tang Dynasty to the greatest extent, and safeguard the interests of Middle-earth here.

Regarding the arrival of Li Jiangyao and other soldiers, Ma Mu showed the unique hearty temperament of Che Chi Hanzi, and as soon as Li Jiangyao came into contact with Ma Mu, he also recognized the other party, and felt that they were very temperamental to each other.

However, at this time, he had no time to greet politely, and went straight to the point: "Lord Ma Mu, how much combat power can be used in the city at present?" ”

Hearing him ask, Ma Mu knew that something was unusual, and hurriedly replied: "Metasequoia City is an important town on trade routes, and there are at least thousands of business travelers coming and going on weekdays, and the permanent population of the city is nearly 40,000. If you want to say that you can have some fist and foot skills, the young man who can make a slight comparison with two strokes originally had more than 2,000 people, but a while ago because of resisting the invasion of the Turkic Blood Wolf Army, he lost a lot, and now there are only 1,200 left. ”

Li Jiangyao showed an apologetic look on his face: "I won't tell you the truth, on the way we came here before, we encountered a large number of horse bandits, and killed more than 200 of them by mistake. These rabbit cubs want revenge, and they have gathered four or five thousand people to chase them all the way, and Metasequoia City may become the target of attack. ”

"Lord Captain, when it comes to this matter, I have to thank you on behalf of the people of the city." Ma Mu waved his hand: "A few days ago, Metasequoia City received an ultimatum from the horse bandits, specifying that we should prepare tens of thousands of taels of gold and silver and a hundred beauties within three days and offer them to enjoy, otherwise we will kill a chicken and dog here." For a moment, the people in the city were panicked, if it weren't for the fact that a large number of goods could not be transported in time, I am afraid that there would not even be a single merchant in Metasequoia City at this time. At the same time, everyone is also worried about blindly escaping out of the city, and they are accidentally blocked by horse bandits, so it is better to stay in the city and feel a little more at ease. The people of Metasequoia City feel unsteady all day long, and rumors are rife in the city, and they don't know what to do. Now the army of the Zhenjiang Protectorate has finally arrived, and Metasequoia City has been saved! Can we not be grateful, you say? ”

Ma Mu's words directly stunned Li Jiangyao, and it took him a long time to react: "Damn!" Didn't I recruit these guys? I'll just say, it's not so unlucky! ”

He turned his head and said to his subordinates with a hippie smile: "Look, we are the heroes who rescue in time, not the broom stars who cause trouble, wahahahaha......"

Lin Feng ignored him and asked Ma Mudao, "Lord City Guard, are horse bandits so rampant?" You can threaten a town the size of Metasequoia, and you're really scared about it. ”

"This brother doesn't know anything," Ma Mu patiently explained, "These horse bandits are not ordinary sand bandits, but a chaotic army that kills people without blinking. ”

"Rebels?" Li Jiangyao was a little puzzled when he heard this, he had not been in Western Xinjiang for a short time, and he had never heard of horse bandits who were called "rebellious troops".

Like him, the Pegasus scouts who had been stationed in the ghost desert of Western Xinjiang for a long time also did not understand the meaning of Ma Mu's words.

I only heard Ma Mu continue: "The one who attacked Metasequoia City this time was the Ghost Alliance that had been hiding in the northwest depths of the Ghost Desert. Their leaders are the Gelhan brothers, known as the 'Ghost Desert Heroes'. That Gelhan was originally the prince of our Chechi country, but because of the failure to fight for the throne, he led his soldiers to rebel against Chechi, and since then he has become a sand thief and horse bandit. The two brothers were strong in martial arts, and constantly recruited and annexed various bandit gangs in the ghost desert, and finally established the Ghost Alliance, which is said to have as many as tens of thousands of people. ”

"So exaggerated?" Du Jian frowned: "Why haven't you heard of it before?" ”

Ma Mu: "At the beginning, the Gelhan brothers did disturb the western Xinjiang for a while, but because they were afraid of the capital of Zhenjiang and the fear of being wiped out by the army, they took the initiative to retreat to Balkorum Lake. It is located at the northwest end of the ghost desert, sparsely populated, and close to the eastern wilderness of Persia, so in recent years, the ghost alliance has mainly gone to plunder Persia, and you have rarely heard of it. ”

Another Chechi official continued: "Gelhan used to be our royal family, and nearly half of the Ghost Alliance was from the Chechi clan, so we can occasionally receive some news about them. ”

Li Jiangyao bowed slightly: "From this point of view, they saw that the Turks had just invaded here, and the power of the Protectorate had been weakened, so they were ready to move." ”

"Eighty percent of the time." Ma Mu agreed: "Gelhan has always been obsessed with the throne of Chechi, and the eastward expansion is by no means just for that bit of wealth and women, I think he wants to take Metasequoia City to establish power, and plot to recapture Chechi!" ”

Li Jiangyao: "It doesn't matter if he wants to rob or seize power, it's not easy to run into our Zhenjiang army!" Lord Ma Mu, we have been ordered to garrison the water cedar this time, bringing more than 500 brothers, plus your subordinates, the strength of the whole city is close to 2,000, relying on the fortifications of the city wall, I think it should not be a problem to resist the horse bandits. I just don't know what the reserves of grain, grass and bows and arrows are in the city? ”

Ma Mu patted his chest: "Regarding this aspect, please rest assured. Metasequoia City is an important town on the trade route, and the grain stored in our official treasury and various businesses is enough for the whole city to eat for more than a year. In addition, there are the most horse dealers here, and there are sixteen large and small stables in the city, and there are about 3,000 high-quality war horses. There were also armor dealers and blacksmiths, also as many as twenty or so, and bows and arrows were collected at least 100,000. In addition, what wood, stone, oil, and skilled craftsmen, it can be said that what you want, absolutely enough! ”

"It's all right!" Li Jiangyao rubbed his hands excitedly: "Speaking of which, I have never been so arrogant." This time, we're going to entertain the guests. ”

Metasequoia City is a very typical trade town in the ghost desert of Western Xinjiang, the whole city lies on the trade route, the east and west are long and narrow, and the distance between north and south is short.

This place was originally a deserted place.

I don't know what year it was, but the nearby underground river was unexpectedly diverted, and a living spring appeared here.

Over time, an oasis was slowly nurtured under the nourishment of the spring water. The herders live in the water and use this small oasis as a place to stay.

Since Shengtang opened up the western frontier and the trade gradually flourished, the travelers who traveled to and from the trade route also regarded this place as a treasure and were accustomed to gathering here to rest during the hard journey.

As the saying goes, where there are people, there is a market.

Everyone watched the metasequoia oasis become more and more lively day by day, so they built sheds and houses along both sides of the trade road, not only to rest their feet, but also to start all kinds of business by the way, restaurants, inns, tea shops, brothels, it can be said that there is everything.

With the passage of time, a lively and bustling commercial street began to take shape, which is the predecessor of Tianquan Street, the main road that now runs through the east and west of Metasequoia City.

In the next short period of time, many markets were built around Tianquan Street, and the corresponding population was also more and more concentrated. Within a few years, a small town of considerable scale was formed.

In this case, in order to protect the safety of the trade routes, but also to facilitate the trade and life of the people of all ethnic groups, Sheng Tang and Che Chi negotiated and worked together to build a wall and build a city, which lasted two years and finally built the famous Metasequoia City.

Because Metasequoia City is located on a trade route, there are few large caravans passing through the north and south gates, and it is only used as a backup option to enter and exit the city, so the regulations are slightly narrow, in addition to the wooden gate, there are also special iron gates that can be activated up and down, in order to enhance the defense ability.

In contrast, the east and west gates are completely different.

Because these two gates connect Tianquan Street in the city and the commercial roads outside the city, they are very prosperous on weekdays, so when they were built, they were also designed to be extremely open.

The two city gates imitate the style of the Shengtang Dynasty, standing tall gate towers, and the shape of the eaves and arches is on them. The door opening is arched as a whole, more than three zhang high, two zhang wide, more than 30 steps deep. In order to facilitate the entry and exit of the caravans, there were no iron gates installed here like the north and south gates, but two heavy copper-nailed gates opened and closed on the left and right.

Outside the east and west city gates, a small square is set up, based on rammed earth and paved with bluestone, which is specially used for large caravans to assemble and rest.

Above the doorway of the east gate, there is a huge bluestone slab, which is engraved with four Shengtang characters "Yongzhen in Western Xinjiang"; At the same location of the West City Gate, there is also a stone slab of the same size and shape, which reads "Hands and Brothers Are Together".

Not far from the east and west gates, there is also a small gate open.

In normal times, the main gate cave is reserved for camel caravans and horses, and the small gate hole is used for ox carts and sheep to pass.

Such a special arrangement is mainly for the convenience of traffic control. Because the camel bells hanging from the camels shake very slowly and the sound is dull, and the bells around the neck of the ox are so loud and light that if the two bells are mixed together, the animals are often easily disturbed by each other, so that they lose their pace.

Such an interesting scenery can be regarded as unique to the Western Xinjiang Trade Road. In the days when there are no sand thieves and horse bandits, this place will always be a lively scene of camels and horses in order, and prosperous business travel.

And at this moment, the people in Metasequoia City do not have the joy and peace they used to have.

As the sun gradually turns westward, the murderous ghost alliance horse bandits may appear outside the city at any time, roaring.

Time is running out for the defenders.

Under the guidance of Ma Mu, a large number of young and middle-aged men and women of various ethnic groups successively supplemented the site of the city fortifications to help the Metropolitan Protectorate strengthen its defense forces. In addition, there is a steady stream of materials that are being quickly delivered to the front lines.