"No, no, those two horses are already adults and have recognized their owners. It is not good to force them to separate. We will solve the problems within our own clan." Di Li said.
Xu Mu advised: "Don't be polite. It's a fate. You treat us as friends, and we treat you as friends. Shouldn't we help friends when they are in trouble? We accept your hospitality and help calmly.
You don’t want to see anyone else!”
Dili said with emotion: "But it is too precious! We know very well how much it costs to lasso a horse..."
"You're welcome, come on, let's go in and change clothes." He Qizhou waved Dili away with his clothes, and pulled Xu Mu into the house. Dili didn't expect the two of them to be so generous, and stood outside the tent for a long time.
Then he turned around and left.
"Turn around!" Xu Mu scolded Qi Zhou in the tent.
While changing his clothes, He Qizhou said: "The clothes you wear are also men's clothes. I saw them last night. What's the big deal? By the way, don't you feel uncomfortable wearing that leather armor every day?"
"Are you looking for death? Turn around! Oh, what a pity for that white horse! By the way, we can either pretend to be robbers and wait for the Zhou people to take the horse away and then snatch it back!" Xu Mu thought of a way and said.
He Qizhou had no choice but to turn around and said: "Well, that's it. I don't know how many people they will send over. With Qingma, I guess we can pass through the mountain without the help of the Keji tribe."
"Pfft!" Xu Mu couldn't help laughing when he saw He Qizhou wearing Dili's clothes: "He looks like a little old man no matter what."
He Qizhou saw that Xu Mu was wearing the same style as himself, with a black square hat on his head, white trousers with closed legs and wide legs, and a double-breasted robe with exquisite and complicated embroidery on the placket.
The difference between people is that He Qizhou's piece is red and black, and since his stature is similar to the tall Dili, it fits him very well.
Xu Mu's robe was red and white and seemed too big. When He Qizhou wore it, the robe just reached the knees, but when Xu Mu wore it, it was close to the ankles. Fortunately, it just covered the slightly exaggerated fat trouser legs.
Seeing Xu Mu's appearance, He Qizhou couldn't help but laugh and said:
"You actually have the nerve to laugh at me? I think everything about you is right in this outfit, but there's just one place that's a bit special."
"Where?" Xu Mu asked.
"Face!"
"What?"
"You should disguise yourself as an old lady, then this outfit will fit perfectly. Hahaha..." He Qizhou smiled while avoiding Xu Mu's pursuit.
"Let's see if I don't kick you to death!" In the small tent, Lan Shanbu showed his astonishing power. He Qizhou tried his best, but was still hit repeatedly on the buttocks.
…
The Keji people eat two meals a day. As soon as Chen time passed, Dili's shout interrupted He Xu and He Xu who were breathing and practicing, and invited them to have breakfast together in the tribe's big tent.
The diameter of the big tent was more than ten feet, and hundreds of people could easily sit inside. At this time, there were already thirty or forty people sitting around the big pillar in the middle, and He Qizhou felt that there were a lot of new faces.
Dili took the two of them to sit down in front of a long table near the edge of the tent, and then introduced that there were thousands of Keji people in total, and they had built five camps and lived scattered on this grassland with a radius of a hundred miles, because there was an important event today.
To discuss the matter, the leaders of each camp came over.
His younger brother Chanda is also the leader of a camp and is expected to arrive in the afternoon. Then he can ask him about the whereabouts of those Qi people. This big tent is the royal tent of the Keji leaders in the past dynasties. Only those with a certain status in the tribe can
Only then can they stay in the tent and dine with the clan leader. Finally, He and Xu were told not to be restrained, and he would take them for a walk after breakfast.
Breakfast consisted of milk tea and several unknown pastas. After only a few bites, someone came in outside the tent and announced that an envoy from the imperial court had arrived. The old woman sitting in the middle asked the envoy to come in, and then they saw
The two messengers walked in swaggeringly.
He Qizhou heard the lecturer say when he was in class at the Military Academy that the messengers in this kind of clothing were just the lowest postmen in the Zhou Dynasty. However, the Northern Zhou Dynasty had a vast territory and information had to be conveyed by messengers, so the status of messengers was quite high, especially in the military.
The status of the scout cavalry in the army is often equivalent to that of an officer two levels above you.
Dili was one of the few people who could speak Chinese. When he saw Xinshi entering the tent, he hurriedly greeted him and asked people to bring chairs. Since the Keji people sat on the floor, he thought these chairs were prepared to entertain Zhou Dynasty officials.
Unexpectedly, the two messengers were not grateful and said impatiently: "Are you Dili? Let me talk to you then. Please tell your clan leader: The governor has an order. July is here. This year's tribute horses must be handed in on time."
, hand over half today, totaling ten horses, and the collar can be relaxed to those under ten years old, and the remaining ten horses will be handed over at the end of August. In addition, if a distinguished guest from the court comes to visit and stays for one to two days, the Keji tribe must send ten guides to accompany the guest
After completing the rest of the journey, we will also prepare 20,000 kilograms of fine pasture, 300 adult goats, and 5,000 kilograms of flour to provide the team with what they need on the way, do you understand?"
"What?" The veins on Dili's forehead suddenly swelled, and he was about to faint from anger. He suppressed his anger and said: "You two gentlemen, we have agreed with the Zhou Dynasty that we don't need to pay taxes, why do we have to prepare so many things? There has been a drought in consecutive years, let alone
They are livestock, and they can’t even feed people. Where did we get so many things, and how can we survive the winter after giving them to them?”
One of the historians said: "It's useless to tell us this. Besides, I think you eat a lot of food."
"Didn't you see that we, the Keji tribe, are entertaining guests? Do you know how long it takes to eat so many things?" Dili yelled at the letterman.
The man was a little timid and said hurriedly: "We are just here under orders. If there is any problem, you can talk to the noble's leading team before dark. By the way, the ten tribute horses are also handed over to them. We forgive our official duties for the inconvenience."
Stay for a long time." After saying this, he turned around and left the tent without saying hello.
When the old woman saw that Dili's clenched fist had not been released for a long time, she knew something was wrong and asked Dili to tell the truth. Dili did not dare to hide it, so she told everything. The crowd in the tent suddenly became violent, and some people even pulled out the words.
He took out the dagger from his waist and stabbed the wooden case in front of him fiercely, but after a while, everyone fell silent.
The old woman winked at Dili and whispered a few instructions. After Dili nodded, she asked He and Xu to come out of the tent, saying that she wanted to start the discussion in advance.
The two knew that the Keji people were facing a catastrophe and that it was a critical moment, so they left with Dili. Dili did not return to check in, but took the two of them to the place where they were stationed yesterday.
The two were surprised to find that both horses had been shoed, and the brown horse was also equipped with the gorgeous saddle of the Keji tribe.
Di Li said: "My mother said that two more horses can't solve any problem now, so I can't accept the kindness of the two distinguished guests. You can try to run on the grassland on horseback first. The imperial court may have so many supplies.
An army is coming, so when my brother comes in the afternoon, you must leave as soon as possible. I have to go to discuss things now. You must not be polite to me anymore." After saying that, without waiting for the two of them to answer, he turned around and walked towards the door.
Run to the tent.
"What should I do?" Qi Zhou looked at Xu Mu.
"Let's talk while riding." Xu Mu replied.
The grass on the grassland was a little green and yellow, the scorching sun was gradually starting to show its power, and it had not rained for an unknown number of days. The shepherd girl in the distance sang a song and waved to Qi and Xu who were riding a horse for a walk, without realizing at all that something was going on.
Disaster is coming.
"I thought of a way, but I don't know if they dare to take this risk." Xu Mu said.
Qi Zhou asked: "What can we do?"
"The entire Keji people have moved to Daqi, but the Anxi pasture is too small and they have to raise military horses. At most, only a small number of people and animals can be accommodated. Most of the people may have to disperse to small pastures in Shaanxi, Gansu, Sichuan and other places! Nope!
Do you know if the imperial court can give them preferential treatment?"
He Qizhou said excitedly: "I think it will work. Now that General Han is in charge of Suzhou, we can arrange as many people as possible at the racecourse. As for the imperial court, we have rebelled against the population controlled by the Northern Zhou Dynasty, so of course we will happily accept it."
Xu Mu said: "I think so too, but it's a headache for these thousands of people to cross the desert. Their camels will definitely not be able to pass the path along the cliff. Maybe all the tents will have to be abandoned.
.”
He Qizhou said: "Let's talk to Dili later. When his brother comes, let them discuss it."
"Um."
…
The meeting in the big tent continued from 1 o'clock to 1 o'clock in the afternoon, but there was still no result. Even He and Xu could hear the fierce quarrel clearly in their own tents, but what they quarreled about was just one sentence.
Didn't even understand.
As the sound of horse hooves sounded like raindrops, the quarrel suddenly stopped, and many people seemed to rush out of the tent. He Qizhou and Xu Mu also quickly went to the place where the sound of horse hooves came from, and saw more than 20 horsemen coming directly on horseback.
In front of the big tent, the leader was taller than Dili. The two mustaches on his plump face were still eye-catching. As he dismounted, he said something cheerfully and loudly. When he saw Dili approaching, he became a ruthless man.
He hugged me hard and laughed hahaha.
Then after hearing what Dili said in his ear, the laughter gradually stopped, and his face turned into the kind of anger full of powerlessness, and it was even a bit funny to look like he was about to cry without tears.
But Xu Mu and He Qizhou couldn't laugh at all. Seeing that they were also there, Dili pulled the big man over and said: "This is my brother Changda. He said that some Qi people are in his camp now.
Just ask me what you want to say, and after you finish asking, you can quickly go back to the mountains and back to Daqi."
Xu Mu asked Changda about the news about Zhang Mufeng and others. Changda actually spoke Chinese better than Dili. He ignored his own grief and anger and said quickly:
"A total of seventeen Qi people are in my camp. They are all very good. The leader is called Li Zhong. He is as capable as a god. Our team wandered in the mountains for five days and found nothing. However, we saw Li Zhong.
Zhonghe and a group of young men surrounded a Tianju on foot. Finally, Li Zhong trapped the horse, and a beautiful girl finally subdued the Tianju.
When they saw us, we were following a group of Tianju. They offered to help us rop the Tianju in exchange for food to help them return to Daqi. With their help, we were very lucky this time and roped three horses in total.
horse.
But I was too embarrassed to keep it to myself. I only wanted two horses. Although they didn't want the other horse, I still gave it to them. I will send someone to take you to my camp now. You should pack your things quickly. The food I gave them,