As the motorcade drove out of Wuguan, the vast plains were in sight. There were still some fireworks near the pass, but the deeper you went, the more desolate it became, until it turned into a wild Gobi desert where birds and beasts were forbidden.
The old escort Yang Chao rode in front, chatting with Shang Jianli, who was going to Liangzhou for the first time:
"The girls in Liangzhou have special tastes. No girl likes Brother She with his body. On the contrary, weak scholars like Brother Shang are popular. In the past, the young master's family was an escort in Liangzhou, and he was stared at by many female kings.
superior……"
"Oh? Is there anything else?"
"That's not true. If the young master's martial arts weren't so good, he would have been robbed by female bandits and become the village's mistress for several times..."
…
The messy nonsense was heard by Ye Tingtang, but at the moment, he had no intention of saying that Lao Yang talked nonsense.
Ye Jingtang was dressed as an ordinary escort and was sitting outside the carriage at the back. Niiao Niu, who had eaten and drank enough, was leaning next to him, looking as if he was satisfied that he would die if he ate a leg of lamb in the morning.
In the carriage, the Queen Mother was leaning on the small couch, her expression still showing a bit of weakness that I felt pity for; Hongyu was holding a bowl of white porridge, blowing it with a spoon to cool it, and then put it to the Queen Mother's mouth:
"Mom, please eat more..."
Fan Qinghe sat next to her, taking the Queen Mother's pulse seriously, frowning for a long time and saying nothing.
Dongfang Liren sat across from him and waited. After a long time, he asked:
"How is the Queen Mother doing?"
"Hmm..." Fan Qinghe thought for a while: "The toxicity is still there, but the body is very stable, much better than expected... However, there is no cure for the Dragon Prison Miasma, and it is impossible to get better on its own, so we still have to rush there as soon as possible.
Customs……"
Ye Jingtang turned around and said: "Using the bathing in fire diagram will definitely detoxify. Let the Queen Mother learn to try it first. As long as you learn how to recover, no matter how slow your recovery is, at least your life will not be in danger."
Seeing this, Dongfang Liren took out the picture of bathing in fire that he carried with him from his arms and came to the Queen Mother:
"Queen Mother, you have learned the Jade Bone Diagram before, and the method of the Bathing in Fire Diagram is exactly the same. You should be able to get started quickly. Can you try to learn it?"
The Queen Mother took over the treasure that she had treasured for several years. She was still a little confused. She thought about it and looked at it seriously, and said at the same time:
"I should be fine, but my mind is a little confused and I'm afraid I can't see..."
Dongfang Liren knew that the Queen Mother had lived a miserable life in these years, so in order to make the Queen Mother happy, she comforted her very considerately:
"You can't rush this thing. Just relax and take a look at it. Don't treat it as a treatment. I have always wanted to come to Liangzhou to see it, but unfortunately I didn't have the chance. This time we will just come to Liangzhou to relax. Maybe we can still go there."
Let’s take a look at the different scenery outside the customs. After walking around here, your health will naturally get better. Let’s go back to the capital when we have enough fun.”
"..."
When the Queen Mother saw that her goddaughter had no intention of turning around and letting her return to the capital, she naturally wanted to do it. She smiled and took two sips of the porridge before seriously thinking about the picture of bathing in fire.
After Dongfang Liren stayed with him for a while, Queen Mother Ji was very serious and stopped disturbing her. She got up and came outside the carriage, moved the bird to the side, sat with her legs in the air in front of the Night Terror Hall, and glanced at the dusk.
The land is vast and flat, I thought about it and asked:
"Have you always been like this?"
Ye Jingtang put his sword at his side and held a riding whip in his hand. Because the Queen Mother was in stable condition and there was no problem in learning the bathing in fire diagram, the big stone that had been weighing on his heart for several days was relieved a lot, and he showed a smile:
"Absolutely. But in the past, escorting was not so peaceful. Normally, you would encounter a wave of horse thieves who blocked the road for a few dozen miles. If you were unlucky, you would encounter sandstorms and wolves. The wild wolves in the northwest are different from the jackals in the Central Plains.
, can grow to more than two hundred kilograms, and there are dozens of them in a large group..."
Dongfang Liren was originally sitting with her back straight, subconsciously maintaining the pose of a queen, but she found that the escorts around her were very devoted to their roles, so she slowly relaxed and rested her hands on the edge of the carriage, her boots dangling in the air, and listened carefully.
Night Terror Hall tells the story of the journey.
The last time Ye Jingtang was kissed by Benben, they were actually a couple who confessed to each other. Thinking about it, they just stretched out their hands from behind Benben’s waist, touched Niaoniao’s head, and then put his palms on his back.
On the waist.
Dongfang Liren's eyes moved. He originally wanted to say something harsh, but when he saw Ye Jingtang finally relaxed, he thought about it and pretended that he didn't notice anything. He turned around and asked Hongyu to hand out a jade flute and put it to his mouth.
side:
"Du~wuwu...wuwu~..."
A desolate melody sounded from the back of the motorcade, accompanied by the gentle ringing of horse bells and wheels, instantly giving the originally lonely motorcade a sense of desolation unique to the northwest.
Fan Qinghe in the carriage also became interested when he heard the familiar Liangzhou ballad. He poked his head out of the carriage window and looked at the camels following the convoy:
"Lao Jiu, get my pipa."
"Okay, Your Majesty."
"?"
Fan Qinghe pursed his lips and said nothing. After reaching out to take the painted pipa, he sat in the carriage and played along:
"Dang~dangdang..."
Ye Jingtang showed a smile, recalling the carefree time when he was walking escorts in the past, and wanted to put his hand to his mouth and follow along.
But he put his right hand on the big moon, and Benben was not aggressive towards him. It would be a pity to let go, so he tapped his palm lightly and kept time with the rhythm.
Pa~pa~……
In the end, there were not even two pats, and Da Benben couldn't bear it anymore, so he played the flute and gave him an elbow.
The Queen Mother secretly looked at the scenery outside in the carriage. When she heard Ye Jingtang snort, she knew that Li Ren was acting like a prince again and said:
"Li Ren, why are you beating him? He is injured..."
"Ahem...it's okay, that's right. Queen Mother, take a good rest, and I'll play the music along with you...wuwu~..."
The few people passed the boring time on the journey like this, and the convoy also headed northwest day and night.
Because there was nothing in the wasteland and it was too close to Yunzhou to even see the horse thieves, there was nothing worth mentioning on the road.
I visited the Night Terror Hall once when I came here in April, and I was very familiar with the route and camp location. During the day, I hurried along, played music and told stories, and at night, I set up camp in a safe location for repairs. All the women in the team were in the carriage.
While resting there, he and the black yamen masters took turns keeping watch.
Dongfang Li and the Queen Mother came to Liangzhou for the first time. They had read many stories about the difficult-to-civilize barbarians in Liangzhou. At first, they had some negative impressions. After seeing the calm wilderness for a few days, they felt
He gradually calmed down and felt that Liangzhou was not much different from other states except for its desolation.
But after all, Liangzhou is Liangzhou, a den of bandits since ancient times and a barbaric place where ruthless people appear in large numbers.
On the first day they walked out of the wilderness, the two royal ladies, who had already been calm in their hearts, saw what Liangzhou barbarians were like.
Ye Jingtang set out from Wuguan and passed through more than two hundred miles of wilderness. The first supply point they arrived at was Suyuan Town, located southeast of Liangzhou.
Suyuan Town is located at the end of the wasteland. It is a small town with less than a thousand people. From here to the frontier, you have to cross the Deserted Bone Beach, which stretches for more than a thousand miles. It is difficult to walk on the road where horse bandits are infested, but it is the closest. People who have been here for business have
The team is not large, and the remuneration for the escorts is also very high. Ye Jingtang is considered a familiar person.
There is an escort agency in Suyuan Town, which is called Suyuan Escort Agency. Because they are colleagues, they have some contacts with the escort agency of Ye Jingtang's adoptive father. When each other's escorts arrive at the other's territory, they usually take care of each other.
Three days later, at noon, when he saw a stream several feet wide appearing at the end of the wasteland, Ye Jingtang knew that he was almost there and came to the front of the team:
"Old Yang, go to the town to find Mr. Hong and ask about the forces in the Deserted Bone Beach. Don't go into the Deserted Bone Beach and be surrounded by horse thieves and disturb the nobles..."
Although Ye Jingtang has only left Liangzhou for half a year, this time is enough for the horse thieves who are roaming everywhere to change several groups of horse bandits. According to previous understanding, there will definitely be flies surrounding them all the way.
Even if any one of the dozen or so people led by Night Terror Hall can be released to destroy a gang of pony bandits, if they kill all the gangsters, the news will spread throughout Liangzhou in less than three days, and those who come back by then may not necessarily be ordinary.
There is a horse bandit. To do this, you must first understand the situation clearly and try to avoid it as much as possible.
After Yang Chao heard the order, he drove his horse away from the team and ran to the northwest.
Ye Jingtang rode the horse and led the team to continue setting off. After walking less than two miles, they saw a small town surrounded by loess walls. There were more than a hundred buildings in it, and some people could be faintly seen walking around in it.
.
But Yang Chao, who was supposed to run to the town escort office to say hello, stopped at the entrance of the town and looked at a wooden stake inserted at the entrance of the town.
In the carriage at the rear, the Queen Mother originally wanted to take a look at the situation in the town, but was immediately pulled back by Fan Qinghe beside her and closed the carriage curtain.
Dongfang Liren frowned, got off the carriage and came to the Night Terror Hall, frowning and looking at it:
"what is that?"
"dead."
After Ye Jingtang frowned and looked at him, he raised his hand to pull Dongfang Liren up and sat behind him. Pegasus arrived at the entrance of the town.
Before they even got close, they saw a log as thick as a bowl at the entrance to the town. Hanging from it was a severely decomposed corpse with its arms cut off. Countless flies were buzzing around it. It was no longer possible to see the original
face.
Dongfang Liren had seen the big scene and didn't reveal much, but he didn't stare at it carefully. He just frowned and asked:
"Who is this?"
After looking at the body carefully, Ye Jingtang asked:
"Is this Hong escort head?"
"Judging from the height, it looks a bit similar."
Yang Chao squinted his eyes and looked carefully for a moment, and found a sheepherder in a town hurriedly passing by with a few sheep, so he asked Dao Dao:
"Fellow, who is hanging here? Who is hanging it?"
After saying that, he threw out a sling of copper coins.
Seeing this, the shepherd stopped, looked back a few times, and whispered:
"The one who hangs up is the escort chief Hong from the town. Last month, Mr. Hong was out escorting, and bumped into Fourth Master Ma's people in Heixiazi Ridge. He killed several people without giving him enough money. After a while, Fourth Master Ma
He brought a hundred or so people over, burned down the escort agency, and took over the town. Now it is under the control of Fourth Master Ma..."
Ye Jingtang frowned and turned his head to ask:
"Who is Mr. Ma?"
Yang Chao frowned and thought for a moment: "It's probably Ma Rulong from the Flower Caravan. He used to run around in Liangdong. We bumped into him once the year before last. He was riding a mixed-haired horse with about ten people. He asked for a
Ten thousand taels of silver in passing money, and finally the horse thief sent away ten taels of silver..."
According to purchasing power, ten taels of silver is equivalent to ten thousand yuan, which is by no means a small amount for the previous Night Terror Hall. For this reason, I remembered it at that time, and my face became a little darker:
"Then Ma Laosi doesn't seem to be very courageous. He suddenly dares to blatantly go into the town to kill people, and he also collects passing money here. Is he relying on a big gang?"
"If you dare to be so bold, there must be someone behind you, but I don't know which one."
Dongfang Liren finally saw how chaotic Liangzhou was. After listening for a while, he interjected: