The imperial soldiers were responsible for opening the way and guarding the rear. The female escorts were scattered on both sides of the carriage. The male escorts and the escort team led by Qin Ming were around the female escorts.
There were more than a hundred men pushing carts among them.
Most of the laborers brought by Ninth Princess from the capital died in the shipwreck. These men were selected by Liu Tie from the village to help the team transport supplies. They would not go to Tibet and would come back after sending Ninth Princess to Xichuan.
"Set off!"
Following Qin Ming's order, the team slowly began to move.
A team of several hundred people meandered nearly a hundred feet on the mountain road.
The Ninth Princess opened the curtain of the carriage and took a look outside, her eyes full of reluctance.
She really likes Xihewan.
Once she goes to Tubo, she will never have the chance to come here again in her life, or even return to Dakang.
With a sigh, he lowered the curtain with some disappointment.
At this moment, there was a rapid sound of horse hooves at the entrance of Xihewan Village.
The Ninth Princess opened the curtain again and saw Jin Feng riding a white war horse, galloping after him.
"Qin'er, let the team stop for a moment and wait for Mr. Jin!"
The corners of Princess Ninth's mouth couldn't help but curl up, and the disappointment in her eyes disappeared instantly.
"Your Highness, I'm sorry, I'm late!"
Jin Feng drove his horse to the side of the carriage, took out a box and handed it to the Ninth Princess: "This is the gift I prepared for His Highness. I hope Your Highness will not dislike it."
"Sir, you are interested!"
Princess Ninth thanked her and slowly opened the box.
There were three bowl-sized mirrors lying quietly in the box, and the top one just reflected the face of the Ninth Princess.
"Sir, is this a mirror?"
Ninth Princess picked up one page, looked over it several times, and asked with some uncertainty.
There is no glass in Dakang, let alone a glass mirror.
Rich people use bronze mirrors, but ordinary people can just take a bowl of water and take a picture.
Although a bronze mirror can illuminate your face clearly, it is not as clear as a glass mirror.
"Yes, it's the mirror!"
Jin Feng said: "Your Highness went to Tubo alone for the sake of the common people in the world. Jin Feng was unable to help. I gave these mirrors to Your Highness. Your Highness may be of use."
The Ninth Princess had just gone to Tubo, and the first people she came into contact with were definitely women. Mirrors might be more useful than gold and silver.
These mirrors are the result of Jin Feng's busy night last night.
"Thank you sir!"
The Ninth Princess bowed to Jin Feng.
Jin Feng looked at the team drifting away and sighed.
Although he and the Ninth Princess did not have a deep relationship, Jin Feng still felt uncomfortable because they were both descendants of the Yan and Huang people and wanted to seek peace with a foreign tribe.
After returning, Jin Feng dived into the laboratory again.
In fact, Jinchuan is not far from Chengdu, the straight-line distance is less than 500 miles. However, the mountain road is difficult to travel, and it rains. The Ninth Princess left Xihewan and walked for half a month, not even a third of it.
On the sixteenth day, the sky finally cleared up. Qin Ming arranged for the team to set off early in the morning. They walked until noon and finally walked out of the mountain.
"Master Jun, as long as you cross this mountain, it will be a flat road all the way to Xichuan Fucheng!"
The guide pointed to the mountain in front and said.
Sichuan is called the Land of Abundance because there is a huge and fertile basin within its territory, but Guangyuan is not within the scope of the basin.
After passing this mountain, you will enter the basin.
Qin Ming rode a horse and ran to the top of the mountain to look down. Sure enough, as the guide said, there was endless flat land at the bottom of the mountain.
The official road is wide and straight, and five carriages can run parallel to each other without any problem.
"Brothers, work harder, it will be a flat road going down the mountain!"
Qin Ming shouted to the back.
When the workers and soldiers heard this, they all cheered happily.
Dakang is short of horses. For a team of hundreds of people, the total number of horses is less than forty, of which the bodyguards account for twenty.
Not to mention the palace soldiers, even among the princess's bodyguards, only Qin Ming and three others had horses. Moreover, these four horses were lent by Jin Feng to the Ninth Princess. When the bodyguards returned, they had to take them back to Xihewan.
It was very painful to push the cart on the mountain road for more than half a month.
Especially when going up the mountain, it can be exhausting.
When they arrived at the foot of the mountain, the Ninth Princess ordered to rest for an hour.
The soldiers who escorted the Ninth Princess were selected by Captain Xiao from thousands of people. The county guard promised to give each of them two taels of silver after the escort mission was over, so the soldiers performed well along the way.
After receiving the order from the Ninth Princess, the soldiers immediately took action without waiting for Captain Xiao to arrange it.
Some were responsible for setting up camp, while others were responsible for guarding. The fireman camp also began to bury pots for cooking, which seemed orderly.
The Ninth Princess sat on the carriage, looking at the mountains behind her in a trance, not knowing what she was thinking.
After eating and resting, the team set off again.
I originally thought that the flat road would be easy to walk, but when I got to the official road, I discovered that the official road had become muddy due to continuous rain, and it was not as easy to walk as the mountain road.
At least the mountain road is basically made of rocks, so the cart will not get stuck in the mud.
Captain Xiao found that the workers were walking slower and slower, so he had to detach some soldiers to help the workers pull the carts with ropes.
But even so, the speed is still very slow.
"Tiezi, Lao Xiao, we can't go on like this. It's getting dark now, and the inn is still more than twenty miles away."
Qin Ming called Captain Xiao and Liu Tie together and discussed: "Tie Zi, how about Lao Xiao and I escort His Highness to the inn first, and you work harder here and take the brothers on the night journey?"
According to the plan, they had to rush to an inn to rest today, but now it seems that it may be too late.
"I think it's okay, but we can't let His Highness live in the wild. Not to mention suffering, it's not safe enough."
Captain Xiao echoed: "Don't worry, Tie Zi, I will send fifty more soldiers to help you."
Liu Tie looked around and frowned slightly.
At this time, they had entered the Sichuan Basin. They were surrounded by flat land and there was no terrain that could be defended. It was indeed unsafe for the Ninth Princess to live in such a place.
But thinking of Jin Feng's explanation, Liu Tie hesitated.
Just when he was in a dilemma, a sharp whistling sound suddenly sounded in the distance.
"No, it's a sounding arrow!"
The expressions of Qin Ming, Liu Tie and others changed drastically at the same time, and they all turned their heads to look south.
A few hundred meters away to the south is a dense forest.
I saw the scouts sent by Qin Ming to explore the road rush out of the woods on horseback and run away like crazy.
Behind the scout, a cavalry team consisting of dozens of people was chasing after him.
Behind the cavalry, hundreds of men rushed out of the woods holding long knives!
The scout had only fled a few dozen meters when he was hit by an arrow and fell from his horse.
"Enemy attack! Protect His Highness!"
Qin Ming and Xiao Duwei turned their horses and ran away, shouting at the top of their lungs to direct their men to prepare for defense.
Fortunately, the scouts discovered it early and gave them some time to respond.
According to the prepared plan, Captain Xiao led his soldiers to the front, followed by the male bodyguards, followed by the female bodyguards and the bodyguards led by Qin Ming to guard around the carriage.
Qin'er, Pearl, and Amei closed all the doors and windows of the carriage and stood guard everywhere in the carriage to protect the Ninth Princess and Qing Mulan in the carriage!
Liu Tie directed the workers to carry several carts to both sides of the official road, and used the heavy crossbows mounted on the carts to aim at the opponent's cavalry from a distance!
[The author has something to say]
There is another chapter tonight, I will try to end this plot, but it may be late.