Tibet

Li Ye and Hei Mao returned to Guanzhong from Pujin Pass and walked along the north bank of the Wei River. Hei Mao went to Wugong County to see his daughter and left three hundred silver for his grandfather again, asking the old couple to replace him. Keep it for one year.

There are two ways to go to the Hexi Corridor. One is to take the southern route on Longxi Road and cross the Yellow River in Jincheng County, which is today's Lanzhou. The other is to take the northern route of Jingyuan Road and then go from Liupanguan or Longshan Pass. Pass through Longshan and head to Huining County to cross the Yellow River.

Li Ye and Heimao did not return to Chang'an. They took the northern route from Jingyuan Road to the Hexi Corridor. A few days later, they left Liupanguan and walked for another five days before they arrived in Huining County.

Huining County is today's Jingyuan County. It belongs to the loess ravine area with flat terrain. 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 taverns and inns everywhere.

The reason is also very simple. This is an important Yellow River ferry heading to the Hexi Corridor. Almost all caravans and travelers on the northern route have to cross the Yellow River here, and then walk through the Gobi and desert for seven or eight days, a journey of several hundred miles, and the entire journey is deserted. Finally we can reach Liangzhou.

All caravans and travelers must refresh themselves in Huining County and replenish water and dry food before setting off.

The two led six horses into the county. In addition to luggage, the horses also had their own weapons and armor. Li Ye's weapon was a sixty-five kilogram armor-breaking spear and a twenty-kilogram scale armor. , just these two things require one horse to carry them, and another horse to carry water, dry food, blankets and horse materials.

The Black Spear is similar. His weapon is a 40-pound elephant-trunk knife, and he also has fish scale armor. He is the general of the Xiaoqi Guards and the most powerful general among the Xiaoqi Guards. Of course, he is more powerful than Li Ye. Not even close, Li Ye's lightning speed was his nemesis.

"Sir, I think we should add a few camels!"

Black Spear was a little worried and said: "The horse materials we carried were not enough at all, and we had to replenish them on the way. But after crossing the Yellow River, I heard that the Gobi Desert was barren for seven or eight days, and our horses simply couldn't last that long."

What Li Ye was thinking about at this time was the warriors of the Yang family. He had not met them along the way. They were probably in Huining. He nodded and said: "Find a place to stay first and inquire about the situation first!"

The two of them came to a large inn. The signboard said Ping'an Inn. A waiter came out to greet him and said with a smile: "Welcome to stay in this small inn!"

"Are you going to bed?" Li Ye turned over and dismounted and asked with a smile.

"Yes! Yes!"

"Come to the two rooms, what can we eat?"

“You can also drink and dine in a small shop.”

Li Ye and Hei Spear led the horses into the inn, unloaded the things in the yard, and handed the six horses to the waiters. Hei Spear was worried and followed them.

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

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

The shopkeeper smiled at Li Ye and said: "It's three hundred coins a day to stay in the house, and the two young masters will stay here for three days. Give me two coins first, and then pay for meals. You can pay as much as you want. The prices in the shop are very fair, and the meat is fresh." "

Li Ye gave the shopkeeper two taels of silver and registered his name, place of origin and destination. He temporarily changed his name to Pei Jin, and Black Spear was still named Ding Sheng. He came from Chang'an and went to Anxi Qiuci.

A dozen Sogdian businessmen suddenly became quiet, and they all looked at Li Ye's sharp armor on the ground. For a moment, more than a dozen people started talking in low voices.

Not long after, Black Spear walked in and whispered: "There's nothing unusual behind there!"

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

After entering the room and settling down, Li Ye and Hei Mao came to the first floor to eat. They were both a little hungry, so they ordered a roasted whole lamb, three biscuits each, and two bottles of wine.

The wine and biscuits were delivered first, and the two of them immediately started to devour them. After a few biscuits, they immediately felt much better. Li Ye poured two bowls of wine, which was goat's milk wine and was pretty good.

At this time, an elderly Sogdian man came forward and saluted: "Sorry to disturb you two!"

Li Ye stood up, put his hand on his chest to give him a gift in return, and said in skilled Sogdian: "May the great god Ahura Mazda bless you!"

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

"Exactly!"

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

Li Ye smiled at Black Spear and said, "You eat first. I'll go over and have a chat with them. They seem to have something to ask for."

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

Li Ye sat down at the Sogdian table and chatted with them for a while. He came back and said with a smile: "These Sogdians are really smart. They wanted us to go with them. I refused, so they told the truth. They hope that we can provide protection and give each of us twenty guan to protect them to Liangzhou."

"Why?" Black Spear was puzzled.

"Huizhou is the junction of Guannai Road, Hexi Road, Longyou Road and Shuofang Road. It belongs to the four boundaries and is a desert desert in the Gobi. There is a very powerful horse bandit within these few hundred miles, and merchants want to They asked the army to escort them, but they came a step too late. The army escorted the merchants and left a few days ago. The next army escort would be in a month. They couldn't wait and wanted to take risks. They happened to see us with weapons and wanted to fight with them. We bonded.”

Black Spear thought for a while and said: "They are too slow and will slow down our schedule!"

Li Ye smiled and said: "I plan to buy a few camels to carry horse supplies. I just negotiated with them. We don't need the money. They will give us two camels."

Black Spear nodded, "Master, let's decide! When will we set off?"

"Early the day after tomorrow!"

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

Yang Jian led his men to chase all the way. After three days of chasing, he finally discovered something was wrong. In all the inns and snack bars along the way, there were no two men with six horses, let alone a man with a height of seven feet without weapons.

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

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

He simply led everyone to Huining County first. No matter which pass the opponent came 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 conduct surveillance. Once they discovered that it was Li Ye, they immediately reported Huining with flying pigeons.

There are four conditions for suspecting Li Ye, firstly, there are two people and six horses, secondly, one of them is seven feet tall, thirdly, both of them carry long weapons, and fourthly, the horses Li Ye rides are either black as satin or red. Like fire.

Just three days ago, Liupanguan's men sent a pigeon letter, and they discovered the suspected target.

Yang Jianchen sent Xiao Feilong to monitor the east city gate. After three days of monitoring, he finally found the target.

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

There was no trace or news of Li Ye and Black Spear in Huining County. He always believed that Li Ye had not arrived yet, so he waited patiently in Huining for nearly half a month before finally discovering Li Ye's arrival. All his men They all secretly admired 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 and they set off early the day after tomorrow."

"asshole!"

Yang Jian was so angry that he glared at him, "Who told you to ask? They will find out!"

The subordinates lowered their heads in fear, "I know my fault for being humble!"

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

"Keep an eye on them, don't let them find you again!"

The men bowed quickly and left.

At this time, another subordinate suggested: "Join the army. They don't know our existence. How about a sneak attack at night and wait until they are asleep!"

Yang Jian shook his head, "If anyone approaches me while I'm asleep, I will definitely wake up. Against a real master, assassination is the stupidest method and will only alert the other party."

Deputy Wang Fei said slowly: "Jianjun, in fact, tonight is the best opportunity. He doesn't know we exist, 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 tomorrow They will discover our existence and it will be difficult to catch anyone alive."

Yang Jian was a little tempted. He had investigated Li Ye in detail in advance. Killing people was too scary. Once he discovered his existence, it was basically impossible to capture him alive. Even if he killed the other party, at least half of them would die. , now my biggest advantage is that it is secretive, the other party does not know my existence.

A subordinate added: "If you join the army, we can blow some incense in advance and his sensitivity will be reduced. In addition, we can also put a net outside the window. Once he breaks the window and comes out, he will be covered by the net."

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