Perhaps because he found a stranger approaching on the sand dune, the shepherd dog turned and started barking in the direction He Qizhou was heading, causing the two herdsmen to look at the two men and one horse on the sand dune. The herdsmen first asked their dogs to calm down and then looked away.
He greeted He Qizhou.
He Qizhou thought to himself that the other party looked like ordinary people. He should be able to deal with at most a dozen people, so he led the horse and walked slowly down. Two men, an old man and a young man under the Qiu, came up quickly. After getting closer, the older man
The reporter asked: "Are you hunters? Are you lost in the storm?"
He Qizhou hurriedly said: "We escaped from the den of horse thieves. We did get lost in the Gobi. We have been walking for nearly two months. Uncle, can I buy some food from you later and ask for directions?" He Qizhou's
There are also some broken silver and banknotes in the bag. Of course, I dare not take out the banknotes, but I don’t know how much things cost on this grassland.
"Hahaha, isn't this a joke on us? Look how thin you are! Let's go, we just cooked the mutton, let's eat together in the tent." The old man smiled boldly.
"Then thank you uncle, don't look at me thin, I have strength, you can make me work!" He Qizhou followed the two people who led the way.
The old man turned around and said, "You must have grown up in a big city in the south, right? It's not easy to meet a stranger on this prairie. Meeting each other is fate. You are guests. Bodhisattva will be angry if you ask guests to work!"
He Qizhou's face was slightly hot and he said: "I'm out of touch. I don't know where this is? This girl of mine has a strange disease. It's best to rush to the city for treatment as soon as possible."
"This is Cangyuan County, Xiazhou. The nearest big city is Tongwan City, which is more than 200 miles away, a day or two's horse ride away. However, this girl looks like she can't walk on a fast horse. It would be less if she walks slowly.
It will take three or four days. Hey, why does this horse look a little weird? The hair on its legs is so long! It can't be a Tianju, right?" the old man said.
The young man next to the old man was about sixteen or seventeen years old. He took a closer look and shouted excitedly: "Father, it seems to be Tianju. After two months of walking in the desert, the man has become so thin, but the horse has not lost much weight and is still so energetic."
, it must be Tianju!"
He Qizhou did not expect that ordinary shepherds in the Zhou Dynasty had such good eyesight, so he had to make up:
"It's Tianju. There are more than 200 horse bandits in my group. This time they went to rob the Keji people in the western region. Unexpectedly, all the Keji people evacuated. Because they had nothing to eat, they wanted to go to the Altai Mountains to find pasture, and then go to the mountains.
We met the Keji people and fought, with casualties on both sides. Later, the Keji people continued to flee into the mountains. During the pursuit, my sister and I took advantage of the chaos and picked up the horses of the Pikeji tribe, and finally escaped from the devil's cave! However, we got lost later.
It took more than a month to get here.”
"It's not easy to escape alive! Come on, let's eat and chat!" The old man led the two of them into the largest tent. There were already more than ten men sitting around eating in the tent. The old man faced a man in his forties.
The middle-aged man sitting in the middle said: "Fourth brother, we are two young men who finally escaped from the gang. Fortunately, we went further south this time."
The middle-aged man with a white face and long beard, tall and tall, congratulated Qizhou and the others: "Sit down quickly. My name is Deshan. The ones bringing you in are my elder brother Dehai and his son Detian. We are from the Pangu tribe of the Dangxiang tribe.
, what do you call me? Where are you from?"
"My name is Zhou Qi, and her name is Zhou Xu. We are brothers and sisters. We are from Qingcheng. We were abducted and sold to a caravan when we were seven or eight years old. By then we had already remembered. We finally escaped this time. Uncle, we have never done anything.
Bad thing!" He Qizhou said.
"Looking at you like this, you can't do it even if you want to!" Tokuyama laughed.
The rest of the people in the tent burst out laughing. He Qizhou looked really thin and frail.
Someone shouted: "Your eyes are so small and she is so big, how do you look like brother and sister? I'm afraid it's the beautiful girl who kidnapped the leader of the horse bandit! Is this a bad thing?"
He Qizhou was speechless for a moment, and Xiaoxue couldn't think of how to refute, so she just blushed and lowered her head.
Tokuyama said: "He just likes to talk nonsense. Don't mind it. Come and eat quickly. We will transfer to another camp tomorrow, but we have to go back to the camp first. You can follow us back to the camp. Then I will tell you how to get to Tongwan."
city."
He Qizhou stood up and bowed and said, "Thank you, Uncle Deshan." Xiaoxue also stood up and thanked him.
Tokuyama said: "Why are you so polite? It was just a joke. By the way, young man, have you learned real skills from the horse bandits?"
He Qizhou noticed something strange in Deshan's eyes and was shocked. He had never used any Qi from the beginning to the end. How did the other party know about it? He said: "Uncle has good eyesight. I have been forced to practice martial arts since I was a child.
That's right. But we are really not bad people. How did you tell that?"
Suddenly someone entered from outside the tent and whispered something to Deshan. He Qizhou vaguely heard that "no one is following around." He knew that the other person still had doubts about him.
Seeing He Qizhou's ugly face, Deshan said a little apologetically: "Little brother, don't be offended. These days, Qi State is invading, and I heard you say that horse bandits are infested. Since we have to go back to the camp, there are mostly women and children in the camp, so we still want to think more."
Just a few questions. Although winter has just entered, the Gobi desert outside the stone ridge can still freeze a camel to death. It has always been a forbidden land for our shepherds. You can still walk out safely despite wearing such thin clothes. Only the strongest among our tribe
Only warriors can do it, that’s why I ask this question.”
He Qizhou suddenly realized and said: "I have been used to swimming in ice water since I was a child, so I am not afraid of the cold. By the way, uncle, you said that Qi State invaded. Did they reach here?"
"Hahahaha..." Deshan laughed and said, "Escape here is enough. I heard that the more than 10,000 riders from Nan Qi who came in were almost wiped out, and only a few of them escaped back."
He Qizhou's heart sank, and he asked again: "That week, Zhou, did our Zhou Dynasty enter the Qi realm?"
"How do I know this?" Tokuyama said: "But our tribe has also lost 20% of its male population. I heard from people at Qinglong Temple that a war with Southern Qi is imminent."
"Have they all been sent to attack Jiayuguan?" Xiaoxue interjected and asked. Although the person looked haggard, his voice was still very pleasant.
Deshan said: "Jiayuguan? I heard they all go to the capital."
He Qizhou thought to himself that if a tribe had to draw away 20% of its men, it seemed that the Zhou Dynasty had still recruited a lot of soldiers. This place is at the western foot of Helan Mountain, much closer to Jiayuguan. Why did the drawn soldiers go to Qingcheng? The ones on the middle road.
The Qi army is probably going to be in a hard fight. The strange thing is, shouldn’t the attack be launched in the spring? Why are Qi cavalry going deep into the grassland now? I can’t help but ask:
"Uncle Tokuyama, did the people from Qinglong Temple say that the Qi cavalry was destroyed?"
"That's not true. More than a dozen of our tribes have gradually moved from the summer pastures in the north to the winter pastures here. People from several tribes have witnessed this battle with their own eyes. This matter has spread among the tribes!" Deshan laughed.
road.
"Can you tell me how the fight was fought? Do you know who the general of Qi is?" Xiaoxue asked.
"Hey, the little girl also knows the generals of Qi State? After all, she has been with the horse bandits, and she has much more experience than us. How do we know who the Qi people are? In fact, except for General Yang twenty years ago, the generals of Southern Qi are
A bunch of idiots." Deshan smiled and continued:
"I only know that the battle started more than a hundred miles southeast. First, our five thousand cavalry met the Qi army, and then another 20,000 cavalry surrounded the Qi army before the other party fled. The Qi army fled in all directions, and half of it was
Killed, half surrendered, and only a few hundred riders escaped. No, people from Qinglong Temple and the army have been searching around these days, and also asked various tribes to pay attention to the fleeing Qi army. If they can be captured, the court will reward them!
But who would be so stupid as to flee north? So this kind of good thing will not be our turn."
He Qizhou knew that the Qi army was obviously ambushed and had a bad start before the battle began. This would affect the morale of the three armies. In addition, his journey back to Qi would probably be even more difficult, so he could only eat his fill first.
Xu Muxue was worried that it was her Zhang family who was going on the expedition. It would be terrible if Zhang Cheng led the army. She knew that if she continued to ask questions, she would not be able to find out anything, but her identity might be exposed, so she had to suppress her shock and stop asking questions.
From time to time, shouts came from outside the tent. He Qizhou knew that the herdsmen were rounding up the cattle and sheep, so he asked: "Uncle Deshan, don't you need to take care of the cattle and sheep? Why do you want to come to the desert to herd sheep?"
"Our family's property has been circled, and that belongs to other people's homes. We have no choice but to come here. It used to be the most fertile winter pasture, but after more than two years without a few drops of rain, it has become like this. Okay
If there is snow this year, the grass will grow in spring.
In fact, we don’t want to eat all the grass, but it’s almost the same in other places. We really can’t find grass. Our cattle and sheep have been reduced by half compared to last year, but there’s still not enough food, so we have to keep changing places.
, because this place is too big, so the women and children stay in the middle camp, and we change places every ten days or so."
"Half the cattle and sheep are missing, do you still have enough to eat? Will anyone starve?" He Qizhou already knew how painful hunger is.
"Less than half? A quarter of these cattle and sheep will be sent to the reinforcements! They will be sent to Tongwan City in a few days! Those young people in the tribe would rather go to the military camp than suffer in the tribe anymore, at least there
I can eat enough every day!" Dehai said angrily.
"Brother, be gentle!" Tokuyama said: "There are dozens of people outside, but don't let it reach the ears of Qinglong Temple. In fact, people can still eat enough, but I'm afraid that the cattle and sheep won't be able to give birth to babies next year.
By then I may have to join the army!"
The young Detian interjected: "Yes, my second cousin is now a hundred households. I heard that after going to the south for a couple of walks, I can get a wife! I want to find him."
Dehai said angrily: "Fart! That second cousin of yours is not a good guy. He bullies the weak and fears the strong. I heard that his troops were doing things like robbing families and plundering homes in Southern Qi. They committed rape and robbery. Such ill-gotten gains are coming.
Why? If you want to take refuge with him, don’t blame me for breaking your legs!"