Tibet

Chapter 210
Li Ye and Hei Mao returned to Guanzhong from Pujin Pass again, and walked along the north bank of the Weihe River. Before Hei Mao went to Wugong County to take a look at his daughter, he left another three hundred silver to his grandfather, and asked the old couple to replace it for themselves. Raise for a year.

There are two ways to go to the Hexi Corridor, one is to take the south line of Longxi Road, cross the Yellow River in Jincheng County, which is today's Lanzhou, and the other is to take the north line of Jingyuan Road, and then take the Liupanguan or Longshanguan Pass through Longshan Mountain and go to Huining County to cross the Yellow River.

Li Ye and Hei Mao did not return to Chang'an. They took the northern line from Jingyuan Road to the Hexi Corridor. After a few days, they left Liupan Pass and walked for another five days. They arrived in Huining County.

Huining County is today's Jingyuan County. It belongs to the loess gully area, the terrain is flat, and several huge loess mountains can be seen in the distance. The county town is small, with only a few thousand people, but the business is very prosperous, and there are pubs and inns everywhere.

The reason is also very simple. This is an important Yellow River ferry to the Hexi Corridor. Almost the caravans and pedestrians on the northern line have to cross the Yellow River from here, and then walk seven or eight days in the Gobi, desert, hundreds of miles, and the road is deserted. Finally, we can reach Liangzhou.

All caravans and pedestrians must recharge their spirits in Huining County, replenish water and dry food, and then set off.

The two of them led six horses into the county seat. In addition to their luggage, they carried their own weapons and armor. These two things require a horse to carry them, and another horse to carry water, dry food, blankets and horse feed.

The Black Spear is similar, his weapon is an elephant trunk knife weighing [-] jin, and he also has a fish scale armor. He is the general of the Xiao cavalry guards and the number one fierce general among the Xiao cavalry guards. Of course, he is more powerful than Li Ye Not far behind, Li Ye's lightning speed happened to be his nemesis.

"Young master, I think we need to add some camels!"

Hei Mao was a little worried and said: "We don't have enough horse fodder at all, and there are supplies on the way, but after crossing the Yellow River, I heard that the Gobi Desert will be barren for seven or eight days, and our horses can't last that long at all."

What Li Ye thought of at this time was the warriors of the Yang family. He had never met them all the way, and he was probably in Huining. He nodded and said, "Find a place to live first, and ask about the situation before we talk!"

The two came to a large inn, the signboard said Ping'an Inn, a clerk greeted them with a smile: "Welcome to the small inn to stay!"

"Is there a room?" Li Ye got off his horse and asked with a smile.

"Yes! Yes!"

"Come to the upper room, what can I eat?"

"You can also drink and eat in small shops."

Li Ye and Hei Mao led the horses into the inn, unloaded the things in the yard, and handed the six horses to the waiter, but Hei Mao was worried and followed.

The lobby was quite lively, mainly because the lobby was divided into two, and the dining hall was on the other side. There were many people sitting at the longest table, with more than a dozen Sogdians sitting.

Li Ye smelled a strong aroma of roasted lamb, which made him swallow a mouthful of saliva.

The shopkeeper laughed and said to Li Ye: "The house is [-] Wen a day, and the two of you live for three days. You will give me two pennies first, and you will be charged for meals. You can count as much as you eat. The price of the small shop is very fair, and the meat is also fresh. "

Li Ye gave the shopkeeper two taels of silver, and registered his name, where he came from and where he was going. He temporarily changed his name to Pei Jin, and Hei Mao was still called Ding Sheng. He came from Chang'an and went to Anxi Kucha.

A dozen Sogdian merchants suddenly fell silent, looking at Li Ye's sharp armor on the ground, and after a while, a dozen of them started talking in low voices.

Not long after, Black Spear walked in and whispered, "There is nothing unusual behind!"

Li Ye nodded, "Let's go up!"

After entering the room and settling down, Li Ye and Hei Mao came to the first floor for dinner. Both of them were a bit hungry, so they ordered a roasted whole lamb, three servings of Hubing, and two jugs of wine.

The wine and Hubing were brought first, and the two immediately devoured them. After eating a few Hubing, they immediately felt much more comfortable. Li Ye poured two bowls of wine, which was goat's milk wine, and it was not bad.

At this time, an elderly Sogdian man stepped forward and saluted, "Excuse me, both of you!"

Li Ye got up, put his hand on his chest to return the gift, and said in a proficient Sogdian language: "May God Ahura Mazda bless you!"

The Sogdian old man was suddenly surprised and happy, and asked in Sogdian: "Are you two going to Anxi?"

"Exactly!"

"We have something that we want to discuss with the two of you."

Li Ye smiled at Hei Mao: "You eat first, I'll go and have a chat with them, they seem to ask for something."

"Young master, feel free to do whatever you want!"

Li Ye went to sit at the Sogdian table, chatted with them for a while, then came back and said with a smile: "These Sogdians are really good, they want us to go with them, but I refused, so they told the truth. They hoped that we could provide protection and give each of us [-] guan to protect them from going to Liangzhou."

"Why?" Black Spear didn't understand.

"Huizhou is the junction of the four roads of Guannei Road, Hexi Road, Longyou Road, and Shuofang Road. It belongs to the boundary of the four regardless of land. It is a deserted desert. There is a very powerful horse bandit within a few hundred miles. The army guards were invited, but they came a step late. The army escorted the merchants away a few days ago, and it will take a month for the next army escort. We bonded."

Black Spear thought for a while and said, "Their speed is too slow, they will drag down our schedule!"

Li Ye said with a smile: "I plan to buy a few camels to carry horse fodder. I just talked with them, and the money is gone. They will give us two camels."

Black Spear nodded, "Young Master, let's decide! When will we leave?"

"Early morning the day after tomorrow!"

Just when Li Ye arrived in Huining County, Xiao Feilong, who was sitting in a tavern watching the city gate, immediately spotted the target.

Yang Jian led his men to chase all the way. After three days of chasing, he finally found out that something was wrong. In all the inns and snack bars along the way, he did not see the two men with six horses, let alone the seven-foot-tall man with weapons.

The geese leave traces, it is impossible for the other party to not even have a trace.

Yang Jianli immediately realized that the other party was taking another road, Jingyuan Road. If he took Jingyuan Road, he would cross the Yellow River from Huining County, not Jincheng County to the south.

He simply led the crowd to Huining County first, and no matter which pass the other party walked out of Jingyuan Road, they had to cross the Yellow River through Huining.

At the same time, Yang Jian sent three of his men to Longshan Pass, Liupan Pass, and Muxia Pass to monitor. Once he found out that Li Ye was suspected, he immediately used pigeons to inform Huining.

It is suspected that there are four conditions for Li Ye, one is that there are two people and six horses, the other is that one of them is seven feet tall, the third is that both of them carry long weapons, and the fourth is that the horses Li Ye rides are either black as satin or red. like fire.

Just three days ago, Liupanguan's subordinates sent a pigeon letter, and they found a suspected target.

Yang Jianli immediately sent Xiao Feilong to monitor at the east gate. After monitoring for three days, he finally found the target.

In the largest Changshun Inn in the city, Yang Jian paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, while listening to Xiao Feilong's report. He had come to Huining half a month ago, and had been waiting here for half a month.

There were no traces or news of Li Ye and Hei Mao in Huining County. He always believed that Li Ye hadn't come yet, so he waited patiently in Huining. After waiting for nearly half a month, he finally discovered Li Ye's arrival. They all secretly admire his patience.

At this time, another subordinate came to report, "Joining the army, the two of them stayed at the Ping An Inn. I specifically asked the shopkeeper that they will leave early the morning of the day after tomorrow."

"asshole!"

Yang Jian stared at him angrily, "Whoever asked you to ask, they will find out!"

The subordinates lowered their heads in fright, "I know my mistakes!"

Yang Jian was annoyed and there was nothing he could do. If he didn't think carefully, his subordinates would have problems. They are really a bunch of idiots with no experience at all.

"Continue to stare at them, don't be discovered by them again!"

The subordinates quickly saluted and left.

At this time, another subordinate suggested: "Join the army, they don't know our existence, why not sneak attack at night, wait for them to fall asleep and attack!"

Yang Jian shook his head, "If someone approaches me after I'm asleep, I will definitely wake up. To deal with a real master, assassination is the most stupid method, and it will only alarm the other party."

Deputy Wang Fei said slowly: "Joining the army, in fact, tonight is the best opportunity. He didn't know we existed, but before joining the army, he inquired about them in many places in the city, including the county government, and left many traces. They may They will discover our existence, and it will be difficult to catch them alive.”

Yang Jian was a little tempted by the rumors. He had investigated Li Ye in detail beforehand. Killing people was too scary. Once he discovered his existence, it was basically impossible to catch him alive. Even if he killed the other party, he would have to die at least half of the people. , now my biggest advantage is secrecy, the other party doesn't know my existence.

One of his subordinates added: "Joining the army, we can blow in the incense beforehand, and his acuity will be reduced. In addition, we can also put a net outside the window. Once he breaks through the window, he will be covered by the net."

Yang Jian nodded, "Let's discuss it and find the safest solution!"

(End of this chapter)