After chasing north for three days, the Ye Jingtang group came to the foot of Huangming Mountain again.
Although there was always water to guide them along the way and there was no shortage of drinking water, running for three days in the yellow sand desert still made the few people with good martial arts feel a little tired.
The hardest among them are the working birds.
Birds and birds were already fat and strong, so they could only hide in the basket and lie paralyzed during the day, and when it was cool at night, they could not rest, so they had to get to work immediately and run to the desert to find the whereabouts of Li Si and others.
Although Niao Niao has excellent reconnaissance capabilities and there is no obstruction in the desert, anyone within a few hundred miles can definitely find someone. However, Huang Liansheng is far more familiar with the geographical environment of the desert than Shui'er, and his anti-tracking ability is extremely strong.
The group of people wandered around in the desert, never staying in one place for more than two-quarters of an hour, and the wind and sand would cover their footprints. When Ye Jingtang blindly pursued them without a field of vision, they would basically go a short distance before letting the birds go out to investigate.
, Huang Liansheng and others ran away again before they could catch up to the stopping place.
After chasing for a few days over and over again, when he saw the foot of Huangming Mountain, Ye Jingtang was inevitably a little worried. He raised his eyes to look at the majestic mountains and frowned:
"It looks like we've entered the mountains. There must be canyons and caves in the mountains where it's easy to hide. I'm afraid it won't be easy to chase after you."
Although Hua Qingzhi has been lying on Ye Jingtang's back, not walking, and can still enjoy the wind, but she has been driving hard under the scorching sun every day, and she is almost blind now. Her original dignified and elegant demeanor can no longer be maintained, and her collar
He untied some ventilation and asked after hearing this:
"What's on the other side of the mountain?"
Fan Qinghe put down the green pearl and explained with the water bag in his hand:
"Judging from the distance, this place is already to the west of Tianzhu Peak. I have never been there before. I don't know how far it is from Tianzhu Peak. After climbing over Tianzhu Peak, you will reach the grassland where the Wuma tribe is. Li Si and the others are not
Go back to Shatuo tribe, why are you running here?"
Master Xuanji was holding the birdcage with a bit of doubt in his eyes.
After all, since the day before yesterday, the place where the few people walked has been completely no man's land, and the Huangming Mountain Range in the east becomes wider as you go north. By the time you reach this point, the lateral distance is more than 300 miles.
It is all steep and steep mountains, isolating the desert and grasslands, and is simply not a place that ordinary people can set foot on.
With the strength of Huang Liansheng, Hua Junchen and others, it is not difficult to cross the 300-mile mountain range, but the four of them want to go back to the Xihai tribes. They should have turned around two days ago. There is no need to go around so far and go around this way.
Duan'er is the most difficult place to walk.
After thinking for a moment, Master Xuanji asked:
"When Huang Lian came here, could it be that he wanted to cross the mountains to deal with the Wuma tribe?"
Fan Qinghe thought for a while: "The Wuma Tribe's Dazhai is on the other side of Huangming Mountain. Judging from the distance, it should be nearby after passing Huangming Mountain. But there are tens of thousands of Wuma Tribe people living there.
Even if Huang Liansheng goes, he will kill hundreds of people at most several times. This move has no other meaning except angering the Wuma tribe. I don't feel like it..."
Ye Jingtang felt that what Qing He said made sense. Although a peak martial artist was powerful, no matter how powerful he was, he could not change the limitations of working alone.
It's like him. It's not difficult for him to charge into the battle alone and kill a Martial Saint, but if he were asked to capture tens of thousands of women, children, old and young, who were swarming around, he wouldn't be able to catch them all without even breaking their legs. He wanted to occupy an area.
Still have to rely on a large number of soldiers to garrison.
Thinking of this, Ye Jingtang asked:
"Are there people from other tribes in the mountain?"
Fan Qinghe shook his head and said: "If it could be inhabited, the people of the Wuma tribe would have settled there long ago. I believe there are one or two people living in seclusion there, but there are definitely no villages. There is no way to farm in the mountains and there are not many birds and animals. There is no way to raise them."
How many people are alive?"
Ye Jingtang nodded, and after thinking for a while, he walked towards the mountains:
"Li Si and the others won't come here for no reason. Let the birds look for it first. If we can't find it, we will go to the Wuma Department. If Li Si changes his mind temporarily and goes to lobby the Wuma Department, that's fine.
A troublesome matter."
Seeing this, Master Xuanji opened the basket on his hand:
"grumble?"
"grumble……"
Although the bird was listless, its movements were not slow. It spread its wings and flew towards the steep mountains, disappearing from sight in an instant.
Hua Qingzhi lay on Ye Jingtang's back. Seeing that she had to carry her up the mountain again, she couldn't help but said with shame:
"It seems that it was a good thing that my father asked me to practice martial arts back then. After reading so many books, I only found out now that none of them are useful."
Master Xuanji and Hua Qingzhi had been together for a few days, and when they became familiar with each other, they naturally let go. She walked behind and patted Hua Qingzhi's round buttocks gently:
"You can't say that. If you really want to help Ye Jingtang, there is no other way."
"Eh?"
Hua Qingzhi was hugged by Ye Jingtang and her legs were bent. She was patted on the back and had nowhere to hide. She turned around with a slightly red face.
"Sister Lu, you..."
Fan Qinghe pulled Lu Zhu up the mountain and said:
"That's just her. Don't pay attention to her."
Hua Qingzhi is not stupid. After spending so many days together, she can actually tell that the Queen's master seems to have an unusual relationship with Mr. Ye, and they don't avoid anything.
But she really didn't dare to ask about such an immoral thing, so she bowed her head and said nothing...
——
On the other side, under the mountains.
A natural cave about several feet wide stretches windingly among the mountains. Groundwater flows through the cave, making a subtle sound of gurgling.
Hua Junchen held his sword and walked forward slowly in the cave. He held a torch in his hand. Through the dim light, he could see that although the cave was naturally formed, there were still some artificial excavations in the narrow or large areas.
Mark of.
Although Li Si knew some fists and kicks, he was still a civil servant after all. He was almost tired after running around for days, and his face turned slightly yellow, so he could only be carried forward by Xu Tianying. But after arriving at the cave, Li Si's eyes were still energetic and he looked around the cave.
Gouge marks inside:
"Is this the military road that the First Emperor used to transport his troops?"
Huang Liansheng walked at the front, walking unhurriedly:
"That's right, these stone stairs were excavated two thousand years ago. There should have been some wooden bridges originally, but they were all turned into ashes due to disrepair. I only rebuilt them over the years."
Although Hua Junchen is a son of a noble family, he has been martial arts since he was a child. His literary skills are far inferior to his daughter's. He has a reasonable understanding of modern history. However, he has only heard the name of an ancient emperor like the First Emperor, and asked after hearing the words:
"You mean that the First Emperor followed this path and pacified the world?"
As the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Li Si naturally knew his family's history very well. Seeing that Hua Junchen didn't even know this, he opened his mouth to tell Hua Junchen the history:
"According to historical records, the First Emperor was born in Liangchuan, Shanxi Province. He was clothed in commoners and started his career with forty warriors. He called the queen's country "Liang". This is the origin of the name of our country and the place name of Liangzhou.
"After Shanxi was pacified, the four kingdoms dominated the world at that time. Apart from Liang, the remaining three were Dong Ming, Li Guo, the ancestor of the Xuanhao Tribe, Chen Guo, the ancestor of the Gou Chen Tribe, and Lang Rong, the ancestor of the Wuma Tribe.
.
"Although the First Emperor unified Shanxi, he was blocked by wolf cavalry outside Huangming Mountain and unable to enter the Central Plains. Finally, with the help of woodcutter, he found a military road in the north of Huangming Mountain, led his army to secretly invade Huangming Mountain, and took the country of Li directly.
, known in history as "Heavenly Soldiers Attacking Li".
"The Li Kingdom was not destroyed in time, and the other two countries did not survive for a few years. The First Emperor unified the world and became the first emperor in history. The official language spoken by the whole world today is actually Daliang's Yayun."
"After the world was unified, the descendants of the first emperor and the founding heroes were all granted kingdoms. My ancestors of the Li family were sealed in the southeast with fertile pastures. The name of the country was 'Yan', which was also the name of Yanzhou and 'Yanjing' in the Southern Dynasties.
'origin of.
"The royal family of the small country that was destroyed in the war, the captives, and the criminals were sent to the barbaric land south of Yashan. The more serious the crime, the farther away they were sent.
"The emperors of the Southern Dynasties were surnamed Dongfang because their ancestors were criminals and were sent to the easternmost part of southern Xinjiang. They did not have a surname at all. In order to make it easier for historians to distinguish, they usually wrote 'Dongfang, someone who caught a hundred-year-old turtle to pay tribute to the emperor.
', over time that group of people became named Dongfang..."
When Hua Junchen walked among such historical monuments and heard these explanations, he really felt that the world has changed a lot. After thinking about it, he said:
"South of Yashan is the Yunze Prefecture, right? Is this considered a distribution?"
Li Si sighed helplessly: "In ancient times, there was no grass growing in the Gobi Desert. Who would have thought that a few generations after the death of the First Emperor, the Central Plains would suffer a major earthquake, causing great changes in the mountains and rivers, and directly cutting off the water source to the west of Huangming Mountain
, there are Tianlang Lake and Yunmengze in the east.
"After this earthquake, the Liang Dynasty founded by the First Emperor quickly fell apart, and the world turned into a struggle for hegemony among various countries. Southern Xinjiang also had bad luck, gaining fertile lands such as Yun, Ze, and Jiang, and rapidly grew and emerged several powerful countries.
"This division lasted for nearly 800 years. Although overlords often appeared in the Southern and Northern Dynasties and the West Sea, no one could rule the world. It was not until 1,200 years ago that a hero appeared in the southeastern state of Wu and quickly annexed the south.
, divided the current twelve states of the Southern Dynasties, established Yun'an as the capital, and then led the Northern Expedition to completely unify the world, known as "Wu Taizu" in history.
"But even if Wu Taizu became an immortal, it could not stop the general trend of separation and reunification. As soon as Wu Taizu left, the tribes in the West Sea rebelled and established a country, and then Hudong Road also broke away from the control of the Southern Dynasty and became a tripartite once again.
"As time goes by, the environment in the northwest continues to deteriorate, and it is gradually annexed by the Northern and Southern Dynasties, turning into countless small tribes that are independent of each other; while the Northern and Southern Dynasties are getting stronger and stronger. Although the dynasties have replaced each other, there has never been a hero who can dominate the world.
…”
After Hua Junchen listened quietly, he sighed:
"So, thousands of years have passed since the last unification, and it's time for a hero to unify the world."
Li Si nodded: "In the past, the First Emperor used this military path to 'defeat Li with heavenly troops' and completely unified the world. But now, if our dynasty can use this military path to completely reverse the situation in the West Sea and defeat the Southern Dynasty, then it will be nothing more than unifying the world again."
It's a matter of time..."
The few people were chatting like this, and unknowingly they went more than ten miles deep. The originally silent cave became filled with noise and the smell of fireworks.
Li Si stopped talking, got off Xu Tianying's back, and followed Huang Liansheng forward until he turned the corner and the cave in front of him became wider.
In the cave, many torches were lit, and a dense crowd of men could be seen sitting on the ground holding weapons, talking to each other or resting. Because the cave was so narrow and long, it was almost impossible to see the end from the entrance.
After discovering someone coming from the entrance of the cave, the soldier closest to him quickly got up and saluted with his hands raised:
"leader!"
Huhhhhhhhhhh...
The soldiers deep in the cave also quickly stood up, and the interior of the cave became quiet.
When Li Si saw this strange soldier hidden in the mountains, he finally felt relieved and asked:
"These are your warriors?"
Huang Liansheng did not respond to this nonsense and stood waiting at the entrance of the cave with his hands folded.
Soon, a burly, shirtless man ran over and bowed in front of Huang Liansheng:
"Chief, we have been waiting here for half a month. We are almost out of food. If we don't have supplies, we won't even be able to go home..."
Huang Liansheng raised his hand slightly to stop his subordinate's words, and then looked at Li Si:
"This is the general Chu Yuanqi under Huang's command. Mr. Li also saw that the eight thousand warriors present only had dry food and weapons with them. In order to rush on the road, even the general was unarmored. If you go out from here, you will not see
The food, fodder and weapons sent to you by your dynasty..."
Li Si quickly bowed his hands and said, "Don't worry, officers and men, Li personally arranged the transportation of grain, grass and weapons. The team will pass through the north of Wuma Department, where there is a horse farm controlled by our court. General Chu only needs to set off now and emerge from near Wuma Department.
, they can be summoned immediately to change their route, and they can be sent to the foot of Huangming Mountain in at most three days. However, this is a surprise attack, and General Chu must first capture the Wuma tribe’s nest before he can receive food and grass..."
Chu Yuanqi said: "I have sent people to explore the other side of the mountain. The Wuma tribe is full of women, children, old and young, and the city defenses are also in front. I never thought that there would be people coming from the natural danger behind, even if there are no armored horses, I will wait.
It can be won without any effort."
"That's good. The food, grass, ordnance will definitely be delivered. Even if it's just a quarter of an hour late, I, Li Si, will commit suicide on the spot to apologize to all the soldiers."
Huang Liansheng had already studied the situation in Beiliang, Xihai and other places, and knew that there would be no problem in Beiliang delivering food, grass, ordnance. Even if there were problems, as long as the Wuma tribe was captured, the stalemate would last for a long time, and he could definitely wait.
Beiliang rushed to help, raised his hands and said:
"Let's go. Mr. Li can go with the army. Huang will be here soon."
Li Si nodded, but immediately doubted:
"Master Huang, don't you want to go with us?"
Huang Liansheng stretched out his right hand: "Your country's elixir can make people reborn. If Huang's skills can be further improved, he will be able to deal with Night Terror Hall more easily."
Li Sicai remembered this and looked at Hua Junchen next to him.
Hua Junchen has been carrying pills with him for the past few days, and he was a little hesitant when he saw this:
"Although this medicine is good, it will require more than ten days of seclusion to temper the tendons and forge the bones before they stand up. The food, grass and weapons will arrive in six or seven days. Leader Huang is in seclusion at this time, which may delay the opportunity to fight."
Huang Liansheng said: "Master Li has already mentioned the pharmacology of your country's elixir. I have my own secret method to resist its medicinal properties. It can come back in three days at most."
"Three days?"
Hua Junchen didn't quite believe this. After all, the elixir was so powerful that even Master Xiang Han had to absorb it slowly. The only person in the world who dared to swallow it wholeheartedly was Ye Jingtang who had developed drug resistance after eating too much.
But this thing was given by the imperial court. Hua Junchen couldn't find an excuse not to give it to him at the moment. After hesitating for a moment, he took out a small box from his waist and handed it to Huang Liansheng:
"During the retreat, my body and energy were riddled with holes, and I had no combat power. For safety reasons, Tianying and I were there to protect Leader Huang..."
Huang Liansheng said: "I'm not familiar with you two, so for the sake of safety, it's better to hide in a place where no one knows."
"..."
In fact, Hua Junchen wanted to avoid Li Si and found an opportunity to do Huang Liansheng. Afterwards, if Huang Liansheng failed to pass the test, Li Si could not blame him for not being able to protect him and complain to the court.
At this time, seeing that Huang Liansheng was extremely wary and didn't want their protection at all, Hua Junchen couldn't find an excuse to stick around, so he could only nod.
And Xu Tianying is just a half-assed military leader, not good at fighting head-on, and has no confidence to deal with Huang Liansheng; and even if he takes action at this time, Hua Junchen can only stand by Li Si to help deal with him in order not to be implicated in his family, not to mention that there are many people beside him.
Eight thousand elite soldiers stood.
With no chance of winning alone, Xu Tianying could only 'believe in the wisdom of Ye Dayan' and silently followed Li Si and others away.
Huang Liansheng, holding the elixir in his hand, stood there and watched, until everyone disappeared from sight, then he silently disappeared into the depths of the dark cave...
——
In the blink of an eye, two days later.
Huhu——
In the middle of the night, the biting cold wind howled over the mountains.
On the steep hillside on the west side of Tianzhu Peak, Ye Jingtang was naked from the waist up, hugging Hua Qingzhi's legs, climbing up and down slowly.
Hua Qingzhi, who was still pulling on her collar in the heat of the desert, finally understood what the two worlds of ice and fire meant. She wrapped Ye Jingtang's robe tightly around her body and hugged Ye Jingtang's robe with her hands.
The neck, but basically the same, was still trembling slightly from the cold.
Luzhu was held between Qinghe and Xuanji, relying on their bodies to keep warm, and tremblingly said:
"It's so hot in the desert, why is it so cold in the mountains? It's hard to breathe in..."
Ye Jingtang raised his eyes to look at the nearby ridge and comforted:
"The higher the mountain, the colder it gets. It's night again, so that's normal. Just wait until we cross the ridge and head west."
Fan Qinghe ran a long distance and was inevitably a little out of breath. He raised his eyes and looked at the birds that were still circling high in the sky dutifully, and said:
"I've been searching for two days. After climbing Tianzhu Mountain, I arrived at the Wuma Tribe's Dazhai. Could Li Si and the others have gone underground?"
Master Xuanji looked back at the mountains and sighed:
"It is estimated that it is really underground. As long as four living people are walking in the mountains, it is impossible for water to leak out."
"You mean you lost track of me?"
"almost."
…
Ye Jingtang climbed to the top of the ridge, stopped to take a breath, and looked out under the moonlight. Sure enough, he found a plain more than twenty miles away, with many lights on it. He thought about it and said:
"Let's go to the Wuma Department first. If Li Si doesn't go there, we will rest in the Wuma Department. Shui'er and I will go to the Shatuo Department to raise Huang Liansheng's nest. Without soldiers and horses, he is just an ordinary warrior.
, nothing to worry about.”
Hua Qingzhi had been tortured by the high-intensity wind and food for several days, and she couldn't bear it any longer. Now she missed the bed very much. Seeing that she was finally coming to an end, she raised her cheek and said:
"I was the one who dragged the young master down. If he hadn't brought me and Lu Zhu, he would have caught up with me long ago..."
"You only weigh eighty or ninety pounds and are not as heavy as the Junshan Sword. You will not be a drag. Huang Liansheng is too cunning. Don't worry, they won't be able to escape and Uncle Hua will be fine."
After Ye Jingtang comforted him, he walked down the mountain wall. There were ups and downs along the way, and the speed was much faster.
Although Master Xuanji has been traveling abroad for the past ten years, he has always balanced work and rest. He rests when he is tired, and then continues on the road after resting. He never endures a forced march.
But this time, it was a high-intensity pursuit starting from Honghe Town, all the way to the Xihai Protectorate, and then from the Xihai Protectorate to Duolan Valley, then leaving the border and crossing the desert, and then going north over the mountains and ridges for more than ten days.
He had hardly rested, and he was indeed a little tired at this time. He hugged Lvzhu and asked:
"Does the Wuma Department have any good wine? It's best to go to a hot spring..."
Fan Qinghe held the green beads together and looked at the lights at the foot of the mountain, feeling tired in his eyes:
"We don't have a hot spring, but we have plenty of hot water and good wine. After you're done washing, we'll prepare a big bed for you to make you very comfortable."
Master Xuanji would rather be worked and cried by the Night Terror Hall than wander around in this hellish place anymore. She nodded and said:
"Not bad, quite sensible."
Fan Qinghe's eyes turned cold.
Ye Jingtang was walking in front, and when he heard his wife beginning to discuss how to reward him, he actually felt a little anxious about returning home.
But just as the group of people hurried down the mountain and prepared to rush to the Wuma tribe in one go, the birds that had been silent in the sky for two days suddenly reacted and began to circle in the sky.
?
Ye Jingtang had already relaxed his pace and stopped covering up. When he noticed the movement, he immediately stopped on the mountain wall, hid beside the cliff, and raised his eyes to look at it.
Although Master Xuanji and Fan Qinghe were already thinking about how they would fight on the bed later, they were still wary. When they noticed something strange, they immediately lowered their bodies, leaned in front of the Night Terror Hall, and asked:
"Did you find Li Si and the others?"
Ye Jingtang looked at the tracks drawn by the birds in the sky, then lowered his head to look down the mountain, nodded and said:
"Ten miles to the northeast."
Fan Qinghe raised his eyes and looked around, and found that ten miles to the northeast was the horse pen built by the Wuma Department against the mountain. The stallions, the lifeblood of the Wuma Department, were kept in it. Next to it was the Dazhai. She said doubtfully:
"Li Si and the others came all the way here, aren't they planning to steal the horse king from the Wuma Department?"
The horse king of the Wuma Tribe, whom Ye Jingtang had ridden for a few days, was indeed a cloudless horse, and he was greedy to see it.
But the leader of the Shatuo tribe, together with the ministers of Beiliang, traveled thousands of miles to steal a horse. It sounded too bizarre. He thought for a while and said:
"No matter what he wants to do, I can't do it even if I'm here. Let's go over from behind and see the situation first."
Master Xuanji and Fan Qinghe didn't say much when they saw this. They immediately followed Niaoniao's guidance and silently moved toward the northeast along the mountain wall...
——
Aha, here comes another one, let me call my name:
I recommend a book called "I Really Didn't Want to Let Them Fall". If you are interested, you can read it~