Early in the morning of the second day, Zhao Shun simply cooked some food, and the three of them ate it. Liu Cai put his belongings on his horse and prepared to ride west. Suddenly, the shopkeeper came and said, "General Shu, slow down, I have something to give here, and I must be able to use it on the road." ”

Shu Yan thought it was something like food or dry tea, so he excused himself and said: "The refreshments on the road have been prepared, so you don't have to be gifted by the old man!" ”

The shopkeeper smiled: "If it is just refreshments, you can buy them everywhere on the road, but this thing I gave you is difficult to buy." ”

"Hard to buy? What is so valuable? Shu Yan said in surprise.

"It's the road map for the Western Regions."

"The road map? I was worried that I didn't know how to move, and this thing was so timely. ”

Shu Yan hurriedly took the road map from the shopkeeper's hand and unfolded it, and saw that it was a piece of silk five or six feet long, on which a geographical map from Luoyang to Dawan was drawn, which not only marked the general location of the administrative divisions of various states and counties, Western Regions, etc., but also marked the dangerous terrain such as mountains and lakes, deserts and rivers, and more safe routes to walk, dense and very comprehensive.

"Uncle, where did you get this, it's really hard to buy."

"A Dawan man sent it early in the morning."

"Who is that Dawan man, and how does he know I need this?"

"It's Luo Wa's father, the Dawan merchant Tuge."

"Tile? Didn't you say that he never came to Dajin? ”

"I've always thought so, but I'm wrong. Over the years, he has been doing business between Dajin and Dawan. Just alone, didn't bring my daughter. Maybe he felt that he had fallen here, and his daughter had been singing here, and he couldn't get by with his face, so he didn't come to my store anymore. ”

"How did he know that I was going to Dawan? Why help me? ”

"I don't know, anyway, the ears of businessmen are very sensitive. As for why I want to help you, maybe I have a good impression of you. Because on the day Luo Wa danced to you, among all of you, you were the only one with pity, so he wanted to repay you. ”

Because that little thing has to be repaid, he really knows how to be grateful. Where the others are, I will go and thank him. ”

"It's gone. Where can I thank you. You should get on your way early, too. ”

"Okay. If you see him again, ask the old man to thank him on his behalf. ”

Shu Yan carefully put away the picture, said goodbye to the shopkeeper, and took Zhao Shun and Liu Cai on the road.

Soon arrived at the boundary of Chang'an. In the past, as the capital of the Han Dynasty, it was once the place where all nations came to court and the center of the world. Since the Later Han Dynasty moved the capital eastward, Chang'an's status has also taken a sharp turn for the worse. However, Chang'an is Chang'an after all, located in the fortress of Guanzhong, extending in all directions, 800 miles of fertile land in Qinchuan, and it is still a strategic place.

Now that Diqiang is rebellious, people are panicking, there is no longer the peaceful scene of the past, and the city gate is also heavily guarded. Of course, this had little impact on Shu Yan, he took out the relevant documents, passed the checkpoint without difficulty, and lived in the official post house.

I stayed overnight and had to leave early the next morning. After inquiring, the Kansai area had been occupied by Qi Wannian, and the imperial court sent troops and horses to fight several times, but they all returned with their halberds, and the situation was not optimistic. It is obviously impossible to go west along the main road directly from Chang'an, so you can only walk a little more, bypass the area from the south or north, and then go west. The south is Shudi, not to mention the road, it is still very difficult to walk, so it can only be detoured from the north.

Shu Yan took the two of them to detour to the northwest through Fengyi County, and after more than a day, they arrived in the area of Anding County, which was beyond Qi Wannian's sphere of influence, and it could be said that it was basically safe. Although there was no fighting along the way, there were fleeing people with their families and backpacks. Everyone's face was full of exhaustion, haggardness, and fear, and the cries of children and the complaints of adults were incessant. It's really better to be a peaceful dog than to be chaotic and leave people.

Seeing that he was about to cross the border of Anding County, suddenly there was a cry on the road ahead. Shu Yan took a look, it turned out that five rebels were robbing a family of fleeing people, the husband had been assassinated to the ground, and the woman was carrying a burden and two children in her arms, and she was already frightened.

A rebel has raised his sword, and if there is no one to help him, the family will be murdered, and no one will survive. Seeing this, Shu Yan hurriedly took off his bow and pulled out an arrow, which was an arrow according to the rebel's arm. The arm of the rebel who was hit by the arrow was gone, and he screamed in pain, and the waist knife fell to the ground immediately.

Taking advantage of the panic of those rebels, Shu Yan rode his horse and rushed forward in an instant.

Liu Cai saw that these people were all holding spears and their faces were fierce, so he became timid and secretly complained bitterly. He whispered to Shu Yan: "We travelers, why do you bother with such idle things, general!" ”

"In the face of life and death, everyone must act bravely, not to mention that we are holding the court!"

"Everyone wants to be righteous and courageous, but it also has to be divided into occasions. In this situation, I am afraid that we will not accompany our own lives! ”

"Even if you accompany your own life, you have to save it, otherwise, your conscience will be at peace!"

These rebels were taken aback before, thinking that the soldiers and horses of the Great Jin Dynasty had arrived, but later they saw that there were only three people, although they were in official uniforms, but they were not wearing armed armor, so they relaxed slightly. One of the leading rebels immediately raised his spear and asked Shu Yan sharply, "Who are you who dare to shoot and wound my brother!" Lao Tzu didn't provoke you, but you are looking for trouble by yourself, but you don't want to live anymore! ”

Shu Yan put away the Xuantie heavy bow and said with a calm expression: "I am an official appointed by the imperial court to go west. Who are you who dare to blatantly murder and plunder in broad daylight? ”

"We are the men and horses of Qi Dashuai."

"Whether it is the Di people or the Qiang people, since the court is kind enough to appease you, you should be like the Chinese, and be the people of the Great Jin Dynasty with peace of mind, how can you raise the banner to rebel and openly confront the imperial court?"

The rebel snorted and said, "I'm going to ask Sima Lun, the king of Zhao, about this." When he was in charge of Guanzhong here, he was tyrannical, especially against Di Qiang, and the oppression was even worse. ”

"King Zhao was indeed at fault, but he had been transferred back to Luoyang, and the court sent another King of Liang to replace him. What can you do to communicate with King Liang well, why are you still obsessed and stubbornly resisting the court to the end? ”

After listening to Shu Yan's question, the rebel was stunned, and then sneered: "I'm just a little soldier, you can't say what you say to me, it's not something I should think about, if you want to say it, just talk to our Qi Dashuai." ”

The rebel's words, though a little ignorant, are actually true. There is no need for a small soldier to think about this. Shu Yan shook his head helplessly and said: "You may not understand the great benevolence and righteousness, but you should always know that you can't kill people and sell goods, right?" It's just that you follow Qi Wannian to fight against the officers and soldiers, the common people are all innocent, they didn't provoke you, right? Why kill them? ”

This time, the rebels were dumbfounded by the question, and just as they felt that they were in the wrong, they suddenly remembered that they were rebels, with weapons in their hands and a large number of them, and there was no reason to listen to others' lessons. Then he cried out, "What are you, teach me a lesson here." It's okay if I don't kill this mother and son today, but I have to leave you to die! As he spoke, several rebels raised their spears and surrounded Shu Yan and the three of them in the middle.

The distance was less than two feet, and the bow and arrow were no longer useful. Taking advantage of the rebels besieging him, Shu Yan ordered the mother and son to flee for their lives quickly, and then quickly showed the sword, and shouted to Zhao Shun and Liu Cai: "What are you waiting for, show your weapons quickly." ”

Zhao Shun and Liu Cai didn't care about complaining at this time, and showed their waist knives respectively.

Shu Yan and the three of them had a slight advantage on the horses. However, on the battlefield, the weapon is an inch long and an inch strong, and the opponent's spear is much stronger than Shu Yan's sword. Several rebels' spears split at the same time. A rebel stabbed Zhao Shun in the thigh, and blood flowed. Another rebel did not stab Liu Cai himself, but stabbed him in the belly with a spear. Shu Yan didn't give the leading rebel a chance to assassinate, at the moment when the spear stabbed over, he grabbed the shaft of the spear with his left hand, cut him to the ground with a sword with his right hand, and snatched the spear over.

The tall horse is equipped with a spear, like a tiger with wings, and the combat power is doubled. Shu Yan shook his spear and stabbed another person to the ground. The other two saw that things were not good, so they fled directly. There was only one man left who had been shot in the arm.

Liu Cai fell from the injured horse to the ground, and when he looked at the horse, he had fallen to the ground and could not stand up, thinking that it was useless. He regained his courage and cried out, "Good thief, stabbed my brother and my horse, let me walk and see if I don't kill you!" "As he spoke, he raised his knife and was about to assassinate.

Shu Yan hurriedly blocked it with a spear and said, "Let him go, why kill one more." ”

The rebel escaped death, and he didn't care about the pain, so he quickly fled for his life.

Shu Yan turned around and checked Zhao Shun's injury, the wound was very deep, but fortunately it did not hurt the bones. He first helped Zhao Shun stop the bleeding, and then ordered Liu Cai to take out the wound medicine and treat the wound. When I looked at Liu Cai's horse again, he was already seriously injured and died, and it happened that Zhao Shun was injured and it was inconvenient to ride a horse, so I asked Liu Cai to also ride Zhao Shun's horse and take care of him by the way.

There will be chaos at any time, not to mention those who kill them, they will not give up, and they will not stay here for a moment. The three men and two horses did not care to eat or rest, and hurried westward.

As soon as he walked less than twenty miles, he heard the sound of killing behind him. Liu Cai looked back and saw that there were 100 rebels riding fast horses, waving their flags and shouting after them. He couldn't help but cry out: "It's over, it's over, our woe has come." Today's fate is explained here. ”

Zhao Shun also said worriedly: "We are still vainly worried about the dangerous road in the Western Regions, and we can't imagine that we will die before we leave the territory of the Great Jin." General, why do you bother with that! ”

Shu Yan also knew that he had caused trouble, but he was afraid that it would be useless, but he would just die. He said calmly: "You two go first, and I'll cut it off." ”

As he spoke, the group had already caught up. It was the two men who let go of the team who led the way. Shu Yan took off the heavy bow of Xuantie, wound the arrow, and aimed at the head of the team with the appearance of a captain: "There are many of you, I know I can't run away today." However, my bow is not vegetarian, and before I die, I can shoot at least three or four of you on the back, starting with you. If you are interested, let go of two of my men, and I will leave you to your less. ”

The leading lieutenant had already learned how heroic Shu Yan was from the two people who reported the news, and then looked at the heavy bow in Shu Yan's hand, and knew that the strength was not small, it was not an ordinary thing, even if he was wearing armor, if he was shot with an arrow, it was estimated that he would be cold. Thinking of this, his heart was furious, so he took a step back and said, "You killed my subordinates alone?" ”

"That's right, I killed it alone, and I had nothing to do with the two of them."

"That's good, there's a backbone. One person does things and one person is responsible. Since you killed someone, let the two of them go, and you alone will take your life. Depending on your identity, it's worth it in exchange for my two nobodies. ”

Hearing that the other party agreed, Shu Yan urged Zhao Shun and Liu Caidao: "Why don't you leave quickly?" ”

Zhao and Liu were afraid of death just now, but now they suddenly have a turning point, they can pick up a life, and they are overjoyed. But he felt that it was a bit uninteresting to leave Shu Yan to escape, so he hesitated: "General, then-what should you do?" ”

"Leave me alone, let's go. It's not a pity for me Shu Yan to die. It's a pity that you can't go to Xiqiang, and you can't go to Dawan. I am trapped in ruthlessness and disloyalty, and I can't be reconciled to my private or public affairs. I can only hold my own hatred, but Yu Gong has the emperor's order, so I ask you to go back to Luoyang, and ask the court to send someone else to Dawan. ”

After listening to Shu Yan's words, Zhao Shun and Liu Cai hesitated. Shu Yan put away the heavy bow with confidence, jumped off the horse, and was killed.

Some people died, but not completely......