Connecting the joints of the Silk Road, the ancient road at the foot of the Qilian Mountains is very spacious and smooth, and a large number of merchants can be seen back and forth along the way, they are all from the 36 countries of the Western Regions or even farther away, even in the face of the tax payment of one out of ten, they are not hesitating. The prosperity of the Central Plains www.biquge.info the fine silk and tea porcelain drove the merchants to flock to the direction of Dahan, but only the prosperity along the trade route still could not cover up the desolation of Liangzhou.

The token of the Ma family was brought to the county of Jincheng, and the convoy of the Qin Cha traveled through the foothills of the Qilian Mountain in a graceful manner, and the ancient road traveled through it in three days, and the Qilian Mountain changed from being in front of the eyes, to being overhead, and then to being behind him.

And from the moment they became behind them, they stepped into the Wuwei realm, and when they arrived at the Wuwei realm, there was an unbelievable scene for them, obviously it was a great drought, why the remote four counties in the northwest, there were still green wheat ripe under the foot of the mountain, looking at its growth, it seemed that it was not affected by the drought at all.

Driving through the fields, everyone looked at the convoy twice and continued to work together, and the prince couldn't help but ask curiously, "Senior brother, why don't the fields here seem to be affected by the drought?"

Shaoyuan nodded, "It doesn't rain much in the four counties in the northwest, and the crops here are all irrigated by the rivers flowing down from the Qilian Mountains behind them, so although they also rely on the sky to eat, they rely more on the mountains to eat."

Dugu Lin pointed to the village in front of him, "It's going to be noon soon, the sun at noon in this place is much hotter than the Central Plains, let's find a place to rest, and wait for the afternoon sun to be less powerful before we go."

When the group came to this small village, the houses in the village were generally not high, and there was an earthen wall on the periphery of the village.

When they arrived at the post station, they first put the carriage and horses in the backyard, and then the group came to the post station, where all kinds of merchants sat in twos and threes.

The princess stared at the blonde and blue-eyed Westerners with wide eyes, showing great curiosity, while the prince was interested in the earthen walls and weapons and sticks. Jiang Haotian seemed to have come to a small village on a non-traditional trade route for the first time, and immediately asked, "My lord, do you have any special thoughts about taking this route?

Shaoyuan nodded, "That's right, if the road is peaceful, the speed along the Great Wall is indeed the fastest, this is a small village between Cangsong and Zhangye, right?"

The prince then asked, "Senior brother, are those earthen walls used to defend against horse thieves?"

Shaoyuan nodded, "Exactly, there are also alien races, this can't be forgotten"

The prince wondered, "Isn't this within the Great Wall?"

Pan Jie shook his head with a wry smile and said, "Brother Huang, the Great Wall in the northwest stretches for hundreds of miles, and the Northwest Army is only about 30,000 people, how to hold the whole section, it has always been like this, it's not that we are not strong, it's just that these alien races are running too fast."

Shaoyuan raised his hand to greet the post steward, and asked loudly, "Boss, is there any mare's milk tea?"

The steward yelled, "Yes, guest officer, wait a minute, I'll send it to you right away"

Xiao Yue asked, "Official, where did this mare's milk tea come from?"

Shaoyuan said, "This is a special product of Hu and Han mixed living, mare's milk is very fat, mixed with tea leaves, there is no smell, only milk and tea fragrance remain, you can try it"

Dugu Lin suddenly realized, "Oh, in recent years, the imperial court has adopted a policy of gentleness towards foreign tribes, and some small tribes have scattered to Liangzhou, Wuwei seems to be the most, aren't the local residents worried?"

Shaoyuan picked up the teacup, "I was worried at first, but there are only a few households in each village, and they also fight against horse thieves with us, and they contribute a lot, and slowly, everyone accepts it, after all, everyone just wants to find a place to live."

At noon, the sun was shining in the air, no one was working in the fields, and the sun of May made people drowsy. The room was much cooler than the outside, and Shao Yuan let them all rest in the room for a while, and waited until the sun was too big before leaving.

Shao Yuan pushed the door out, and Pan Jie did not sleep, but followed Shao Yuan out.

The two of them sat down at a table in the hall of the inn, but not long after they sat down, there was a sudden sound of gongs and drums, which was a familiar sound. Shaoyuan immediately stood up and said, "Brother Pan, there are horse thieves or aliens coming."

Pan Jie's face changed, and he immediately returned to the room with Shaoyuan, and Dugu Lin also walked out at this moment and asked, "What's the matter?"

Shaoyuan said in a low voice, "There are horse thieves or aliens, take them with you immediately, don't get into the carriage" Then the boss of the post station also ran up, "A few guest officers, come with me, we leave through the back door,, I haven't seen a horse thief for a few months, why are you here today"

On the street, the crowd began to rush south, that was the direction of Zhangye, a six-door person carried the princess on his back, and the six-door people formed a circle, responsible for opening the way in front, and Shaoyuan and Dugulin were responsible for breaking the back.

Dugu Lin followed behind and wondered, "How many people are here with this horse thief, why didn't Long Xiaowei react at all?"

Shaoyuan also wondered, "That's right, isn't Long Xiangwei guarding in front and rear, was he ambushed?"

Turning the corner of the street, he was already about to leave the village, and the horse thieves had already rushed up, Shao Yuan fixed his eyes, "Thirty or forty horsemen, masked scimitars, are they alien?" But Shao Yuan would not be so stupid, these horse thieves were on horses, coming with momentum, and condescendingly, fighting them like this is self-defeating. So they made a barricade and retreated.

However, Shao Yuan soon found that there was no practical point in them doing this, because the horse thieves had no intention of catching up with them, and although they were chasing, they were more like driving sheep, and dispersed them to the south.

"Stomping" a rapid sound of horses' hooves, the sound came from behind Shaoyuan, Shaoyuan turned around, only to see a dense rain of arrows flying above his head, those horse thieves fell in response, and the horse thieves saw that people were menacing, and they lined up to prepare to attack. Immediately afterward, a dense rain of arrows flew behind them, and the horse thieves lost most of their time. Twenty-five white-clothed iron horsemen passed by Shao Yuan, and they drew their bright blades and rushed towards the horse thieves. And among the crowd of people who were in the middle of the mistake, Shao Yuan found that there were twenty-five other white-clothed iron horsemen who had also joined the battle array.

Dugu Lin was pleasantly surprised, "Long Xiangwei is here"

Long Xiangwei is the elite soldier of the elite soldiers, coupled with the numerical advantage, the horse thief is only a matter of a moment, sure enough, after a while, the horse thief has lost its combat effectiveness, more than a dozen horse thieves were killed to lose their armor, fell under the horse, and looked at the white-masked iron horse that surrounded them with fear.

"Where are the horse thieves?" just as everyone shouted and cheered for the destruction of the horse thieves, against the crowd, another group of cavalry came belatedly. The mouth kept shouting, "Where is the horse thief?"

He didn't pay attention to Shaoyuan and them, but went straight to the place where Long Xiangwei was, only to see that the cavalry was led by a rough man, who came to the front with more than fifty horsemen. He asked, "Who are you?"

Long Xiangwei was silent, and the leader of the guards came to Shaoyuan and them, "Lord Qincha, the end will be late, has there been anything?"

Shaoyuan looked at everyone, the prince shook his head, signaling that it was okay, so Shaoyuan also nodded, "I'll wait for nothing"

"And what about the remaining horse thieves?" asked Long Xiangwei

Dugu Lin frowned, "This matter is quite strange, Lord Long Xiangwei, I dare to ask, why did Long Xiangwei not have any vigilance when these horse thieves came?"

Long Xiangwei also lowered his head, "I'm ashamed, we don't have a clue about this, it's also the time when the rear of the hands and feet rested, and when we found the villagers fleeing south, we immediately killed into the village, and there were no suspicious convoys and horse teams in the front."

Dugu Lin said angrily: "You mean that this group appeared out of thin air?"

Long Xiaowei wore a mask and couldn't see his expression, but he could only sigh and say, "I don't know."

Shao Yuan pressed down the two of them, "Okay, okay, don't say it, isn't the horse thief just in front? Won't you know if you bring it back for trial?" and I also believe that Lord Long Xiangwei will not neglect his duties."

At this time, the leader of the group of cavalry came over, "What are you guys muttering? This is the boundary of Zhangye County, and I am the county lieutenant Ma ......" Before he finished speaking, Long Xiangwei tore him off his horse and stepped on his face, "Little county lieutenant, don't yell at me! In front of you, but when the court is sent to the Qincha, and there are six doors Dugu Hall Master, which is comparable to you as a county lieutenant of only 400 stones."

Lieutenant Ma immediately became honest, "Lord Qincha, are you Lord Qincha? Yes, yes, yes, what do you have to order?"

Shaoyuan looked around, "The movement is so big, I can't stay here, let's go, let's set off in Zhangye, spend the night in Zhangye tonight, and interrogate these horse thieves What is the origin?"

On the way to Zhangye County, Dugu Lin frowned, and then asked the Ma County Captain, "Ma County Captain, where were you before the horse thieves attacked?" If there were no other help, I am afraid that you and your subordinates would be the first to arrive, so where were you at that time?"

Lieutenant Ma said respectfully, "Because some time ago, the county received a document from the imperial court, saying that Dayuan had come to Liangzhou, so the lower officials led the troops to inspect the territory. Xiaguan was patrolling near the boundary with his subordinates, which was the boundary between the two counties, and Xiaguan happened to come to this vicinity, and was about to go to the village to rest for a while, but he knew that he would meet the villagers who had escaped on the way, so he rushed over. I offended you by mistake, and I hope you all Haihan"

Shao Yuan waved his hand, "We didn't reveal our identity, and we don't blame you, by the way, haven't there been no horse thieves recently?

The county lieutenant gave up his hand, "The lower official still needs to find out this matter before he can tell Lord Qincha, and now the lower official doesn't know the intermediate reason."