To the southwest of Qin, a large army stretching for several miles was rushing against the cold wind.
Guan Xiaorou was wearing armor and riding a horse in the middle of the team.
Tang Dongdong and Zhao Yue were on the left and right, following Guan Xiaorou a little behind.
After passing a bare hill, Zhao Yue kicked the horse's belly and walked a few steps quickly to catch up with Guan Xiaorou.
"Madam, after passing this hill is Jiulian Valley."
"Old man, have you been here before?" Tang Dongdong asked curiously.
"I used to work as an errand in Weizhou City, and I would pass by the area every time I came back. However, the bandits in Jiuliangou were very violent in the past few years, so we always used the three-way road in front to avoid Jiuliangou."
Zhao Yue said: "After Jiuliangou, there are almost all barren mountains behind. When there is a strong wind in summer, the sand will hit people so hard that they can't open their eyes."
Guan Xiaorou was obviously not very interested in this topic, so she turned around and asked: "Old man, was the brother who sent the hot air balloon blocked by King Qin's people in Jiulian Valley?"
"Yes," Zhao Yue nodded: "General Zheng said so."
"Alian, find someone to call Brother Zheng over!" Guan Xiaorou turned around and said.
Alian, the guard captain who was following behind, agreed and made a gesture to a guard behind him.
The bodyguard left the group on horseback and ran forward.
As a result, he didn't run far when he saw Zheng Fang leading someone from the front.
"Madam, the Jiulian Valley is ahead. The enemy is very active. Why don't you go to the carriage?"
When he was still dozens of meters away from Guan Xiaorou, Zheng Fang controlled his horse to turn around and followed Guan Xiaorou.
The King of Qin also had catapults and heavy crossbows. Although they were not as advanced as those of the Zhenyuan Escort, they were still very dangerous.
Knowing that Guan Xiaorou was coming, Zheng Fang prepared a carriage specially for her.
This kind of carriage was originally designed by Jin Feng for the Ninth Princess. The bottom, top and surroundings are all covered with steel plates. It is impossible for ordinary bows and arrows to harm the people inside.
Even if the enemy uses a heavy crossbow, unless it hits the window and the person in the carriage happens to be in front of the window, even the heavy crossbow will be unable to do anything.
When Jin Feng designed the carriage, he considered this issue and designed the windows higher up.
Moreover, each window is very small. If the enemy wants to use a heavy crossbow to hit the window from a distance of more than 100 meters, the probability is too low!
As long as Guan Xiaorou gets on the carriage, there will basically be no problem with her safety.
But who knew that Guan Xiaorou actually disagreed and insisted on riding horses with Tang Dongdong and Zhao Yue.
Zheng Fang did not dare to force her. After persuading her several times, he had no choice but to give up.
However, there are many ravines near Jiulian Valley. Even if there were scouts on both sides to explore the route in advance, Zheng Fang could not guarantee that nothing was missed.
If there is an enemy hiding in a small ravine, use a heavy crossbow or catapult to attack Guan Xiaorou. When the Ninth Princess goes back, she will have to kill him. Zheng Fang can only bite the bullet and come again.
"Madam, General Zheng is right."
Zhao Yue also advised: "Your safety is very important. To put it bluntly, if you have any shortcomings, we will not be able to tell you to sir and His Majesty. It will also have a huge blow to morale. You still
Let’s go to the carriage.”
After Zheng Fang heard this, he looked at Zhao Yue gratefully.
In fact, Zheng Fang also went to Zhao Yue before, hoping that he could help persuade Guan Xiaorou, but Zhao Yue did not agree.
Because during the years he followed General Fan, General Fan never rode in a carriage during the march, and Zhao Yue also heard that Jin Feng ate and lived with ordinary soldiers during the march, so he thought that an excellent general would
You can't be special.
Even if the original intention of doing this is just for show, the soldiers will become more cohesive after seeing it.
Since Guan Xiaorou takes the initiative to go to the front line, she must not be afraid of hardship.
If Guan Xiaorou wanted to ride in a carriage, Zhao Yue would not say anything. But since Guan Xiaorou asked to ride a horse, he would not help Zheng Fang persuade her. Instead, he would let Guan Xiaorou wear the armor of an ordinary female soldier.
Jiuliangou was too dangerous, and it was an area with frequent enemy activities. Zhao Yue did not dare to let Guan Xiaorou take any more risks, so he helped Zheng Fang persuade Guan Xiaorou.
"Mr. Zhao, we have been walking for so many days, should everything be okay?"
Guan Xiaorou still didn't want to ride in the carriage.
"Madam, you made a promise before coming here that you are willing to listen to the old man's arrangements on the way. Could it be that madam wants to break her promise?" Zhao Yue said.
When Guan Xiaorou heard what Zhao Yue said, she had no choice but to nod her head and follow Zheng Fang onto the carriage.
The team walked forward for more than half an hour and completely entered the boundary of Jiuliangou.
Looking outside from the small window, Guan Xiaorou finally knew why this place was called Jiuliangou, why the bandits chose this place as their lair, and why the escort who sent the hot air balloon was stopped here.
The ground on the left side of the mountain road looks like it has been raked by a rake. There are endless ravines of all sizes, with no end in sight.
This kind of place is perfect for hiding people and also perfect for ambush.
The large force walked forward for another ten minutes, and were about to meet up with the escort team delivering hot air balloons. From an inconspicuous small ravine on the right side of the mountain road, a piece of stone suddenly flew out and roared towards the carriage where Guan Xiaorou was sitting.
Come!
"Be careful, it's a catapult!" Zheng Fang roared: "Protect my wife!"
But as soon as he finished speaking, the stone had already arrived.
The carriage was directly enveloped by flying rocks, the wooden boards wrapped around it were shattered to pieces, and the steel plates inside were exposed.
The war horse pulling the carriage was directly stoned to death. Four of the guards who followed the carriage also died, and two more were stoned to death by the war horses.
Fortunately, the steel plate was strong enough, and Guan Xiaorou, who was sitting in the carriage, was not injured but was slightly frightened.
But she just held on to the handrail on the inner wall of the carriage and tried not to scream.
"Madam, there is an escape hatch under the seat of the carriage. Get out of the carriage quickly!"
Zhao Yue did not care about the danger, jumped off his horse and ran towards the direction of the carriage.
In fact, Zhao Yue was unwilling to persuade Guan Xiaorou to ride in a carriage before. Another reason was that he thought the carriage was too conspicuous.
Sitting on a carriage makes you easily spotted by the enemy and becomes the target of attack.
Now it seems that the situation he was most worried about has happened.
Fortunately, the quality of the carriage was good and it withstood the attack of the catapult.
"Mr. Zhao, the carriage is protected by steel plates. It is safest for Madam to stay in the carriage now. Why did you ask her to get down?"
Zheng Fang was a little anxious when he heard Zhao Yue asking Guan Xiaorou to get out of the car.
"You are confused. If the enemy found out that stones could not break the carriage, wouldn't they use kerosene?"
Zhao Yue stamped his feet and said.
When Zheng Fang heard this, his eyes suddenly widened.
Yes, the steel plate on the carriage can block stones, but it cannot block the all-pervasive flames.