Chapter 167: Horse bandits appear

"General, I always feel that there is something wrong with it."

When the team arrived in Ganzhou, Yan Zhuang finally expressed his doubts, "General, An Sishun is not a generous person. On the surface, he has nothing to do with An Lushan, but I know that they are actually very close in private. Every time they receive An Sishun's letter, An Lushan is like a holiday, and he is impatient to lock himself in the room and reply. The letter is very long, and he has to write for an hour, or even more. General, please forgive me for being rude. I saw An Sishun very intimate with you. When he met An Lushan in Fanyang, he was not so intimate. Have your relationship with him surpassed him and An Lushan?"

Li Qing'an sat opposite Yan Zhuang, and the carriage was rippling. Through the car window, you could see the three thousand cavalry sent by An Sishun guarding them loyally. Rather than being a guard, it was a kind of surveillance. They led the way in front, and the walking route was determined by them. The rest and departure time along the way were decided by them. They always spoke beautiful words: "General, we are the masters in Hexi, we are better at understanding the situation. Please treat you to the master!"

In fact, after passing Liangzhou, Li Qing'an felt something was wrong. An Sishun was too enthusiastic and he had to stay in Liangzhou for five days. But when they finally left, he didn't even give him saliva, let alone the rations of the three thousand guards, which were provided by them. An Sishun's enthusiasm was extremely stingy, which showed that he didn't want to pay a little bit for the Beiting team at all. His enthusiasm was either his hypocrisy or something he wanted to hide?

What did he want to hide? When he arrived in Ganzhou, two words kept popping up in Li Qing'an's mind: "Ma Bandit!"

Yes! He walked through the Hexi Corridor many times, but he heard of a few small group of horse bandits, but he had never heard of a horse bandit with thousands of people. If there were really a horse bandit with thousands of people, what were the eight armies of the Hexi Jiedushi for? And it was also a horse bandit with three or four thousand people, which was simply incredible.

"Sir, is An Lushan wrote him a letter recently?" Li Qingan pondered for a moment.

Wang Changling next to him was shocked. Only then did he understand what Li Qing'an and Yan Zhuang meant. An Sishun wanted to attack the convoy. He quickly snatched the convoy, and he quickly sniffed: "This is simply unbelievable. As a prince and a dignified Hexi Jiedushi, will An Sishun vent his anger and relieve the fire like a child? Once the court knows, will he still do this as a Jiedushi? I think he shouldn't be so reckless."

Yan Zhuang smiled and said, "Mr. Wang's words make sense. Of course, An Lushan's letter would not make An Sishun take the risk, but I think he is not just trying to vent his anger on An Lushan. After all, he is the governor of a town and will not take such a big risk. If I guess correctly, he has other plans."

"Shatuo people!" Li Qingan blurted out.

Yan Zhuang narrowed his eyes and smiled, "General Li hit the nail on the head. I also think An Sishun is trying to provoke the relationship between General Li and the Shatuo people, perhaps looking forward to General Li driving the Shatuo people to Hexi."

Wang Changling next to him was also silent. He was a straightforward person and had never thought about any conspiracy or intrigues. He didn't understand these things. He was unwilling to think about it and disdained to think about it. Therefore, he was demoted step by step. He could not even be a small county lieutenant. No one around him told him why he couldn't do it. He was a vain official from beginning to end.

And this time, he sat in a carriage with a Jia Xu-like figure. He did not feel disgusted. On the contrary, he felt like he was shaking the sky. It turned out that the power struggle in the officialdom could have such a scheming.

"What should we do?" Wang Changling murmured: "If someone really comes to attack us, how should we prepare?"

"Mr. Wang, don't worry, An Sishun's attack is just a wild ghost active at night. When the sun shines, they will disappear without a trace."

Yan Zhuang smiled slightly, and he glanced at Li Qing'an, who also laughed and said slowly: "They really can't stand the sun, but I want to meet these little kids at night for a while."

After the team passed Ganzhou and arrived in Suzhou, An Sishun's army stopped escorting and retreated to Liangzhou. The Beiting convoy continued to walk westward. Five days later, the team arrived at the territory of Guazhou.

"Dayi, Yumen Pass is in front of you." Li Qing'an pointed to a city in the distance and said with a smile.

Wuyi lost a lot of weight after a month of long journey, but she was in good spirits and made her look even more elegant and refined.

She was playing chess with Yunu. When she heard that she had arrived at Yumen Pass, she exclaimed in surprise and looked at the city in the distance. There was a poplar forest in the distance. A small river flowed through it. Yumen Pass stood on this endless Gobi Desert. Why should Qiang flute blame the willows? The spring breeze did not cross Yumen Pass? She suddenly understood the artistic conception in the poem, which made her mood difficult for a long time. After a long time, she asked Li Qing'an: "General Li, where is the Yangguan?"

"Yangguan is in Shouchang County, Shazhou."

Li Qing'an pointed to the south and smiled and said, "The reason why Yumen Pass is important is that the Silk Road is divided into two branches from here. One goes to Dunhuang in Shazhou, and after passing Yangguan, heading to Loulan and enter Anxi; the other goes to Yizhou and enter Beiting in northwest. In the past, I returned from Anxi and went to Dunhuang. This time we went to Beiting, and it was the first time I took the Silk Road on the North Line."

"So we won't go to Yangguan!" Wuyi sighed softly.

Li Qingan smiled slightly and said, "I advise you to have a glass of wine. There is no friend when you go west to Yangguan. Wuyi. I listen to you playing this song in Liyuan Villa, right!"

"When?" Wuyi looked at Li Qing'an in surprise, and had never heard him say anything.

"Two years ago!" Li Qing'an thought for a while and laughed: "I remember it was La Day. I accompanied Shouyu to Liyuan Villa to find his sweetheart, but I accidentally heard you play the piano. When I mentioned the Qinxian, everyone admired it very much. Chang'an made the Qinxian, who was obsessed with countless people, actually came to Beiting with me, Li Qing'an. Haha! If it was reported, how many people would jump to scold me, Lao Li, and I was proud to think about it."

"You think beautifully!"

Wuyi blushed and glared at him, "I came to Beiting to learn the piano. If I learn the piano well, I will go back to Chang'an. You just dream alone!"

Li Qingan smiled bitterly and said, "Then I will give you a ride. I advise you to have another glass of wine. There will be no old people in Yangguan east."

Wuyi heard that he had revised the poem, and couldn't help but laugh, and gave him a charming look and said, "How could you give me a gift? Maybe you would pretend to be a bandit and intercept me halfway."

"It's very likely."

Li Qingan took two steps to the side, raised his eyebrows, and waved his hand carelessly: "Stop! I am the one who blooms this mountain and I planted this tree. If you want to live there, leave behind the wealth of the road, hey! The little woman is penniless, where can I buy wealth of the road for the king? Haha! This king doesn't want your wealth, you are so beautiful, so stay here to be the wife of the village for me, Lao Li."

After the performance, Li Qing'an plucked his horse and ran away. Wu Yi heard his performance interesting and couldn't help but smile. But when she heard the last sentence, she suddenly blushed and raised her chess piece to smash him shyly, but Li Qing'an ran away.

"When will it become so slick!" Wuyi said angrily, "I will ignore him next time."

Although he said that, his beautiful eyes couldn't help looking at Li Qing'an's back.

At this time, Yu Nu on the side smiled and said, "Girl, when I arrive in Tingzhou, I should have your wedding banquet!"

"What are you talking nonsense!"

Wuyi was embarrassed and anxious, and she couldn't hold her face anymore. She pinched Yu Nu's arm hard and cursed in a low voice: "Damn girl, what about drinking wedding wine? I think you are sleeping in a daze and just talk nonsense."

"It's like, your lover is born, why can't you marry him?"

Speaking of this, Yu Nu suddenly covered her mouth. She suddenly remembered that Wuyi was still the wife of the Cui family. If the engagement was not terminated, how could she marry Li Qing'an?

"Stop thinking about it, let's continue playing the chess!"

Wuyi's expression was very calm. She put down her son and smiled and said, "It's your turn, hurry up and make a move."

Yu Nu had no choice but to continue playing chess with her, but after walking a few steps, Wuyi made a slower and slower move. She stared at the chessboard blankly, her eyes full of sadness. She had just embarked on a new path that belonged to her, but her identity was like a huge mountain pass, blocking her hope. She hated the Cui family. The Cui family gave her an invisible shackle, imprisoning her for five years, making her breathless, but now she still has to continue to imprison. The thought of despair stabbed her weak heart like a bee sting. She felt that her heart was swollen due to pain.

"Girl, do you still remember what Mrs. Yang said to you?" Yu Nu whispered.

‘Mrs. Yang?’ Wuyi remembered that Yang Wanrong, the wife of Shangshu, often came to see her two years ago.

"It was the Mid-Autumn Festival night two years ago. Do the girl still remember what she said about leaves?"

Wuyi looked out the window quietly. The words Mrs. Yang said to her on the Mid-Autumn Festival two years ago came to her mind like flowing water.

"You are a leaf on the big tree of the Cui family. The Cui family will obstruct you in every way and prevent the wind from blowing you away. But when you break free from the branches and go with the wind, the Cui family will immediately announce that you do not belong to their tree, and there is not a leaf on their tree."

Wuyi's heart was in chaos, and she didn't know what to do.

Li Qing'an rushed to the front of the team. The scout had already brought information about the horse bandits. He opened a map and listened to the scout's report while determining the location on the map.

"Three miles north of us is Daze Lake. Last night, we found a lot of fresh horse manure and countless horse hoof prints by Daze Lake. The number of horse bandits is about three to four thousand. This morning we went west of Yumen Pass, but no trace of horse bandits was found. From this, we infer that this group of horse bandits should still be near Daze Lake. We have entered their ambush range. It is very likely that they will attack us tonight."

On the map, Daze Lake is close to Yumen Pass, and about two hundred miles south of Yumen Pass is Jinchang County, Guazhou, where there are Moli Army stationed among the Eight Army of Hexi, with 5,000 people. The road from Yumen Pass to Jinchang County is a Gobi Desert along the way, which is very conducive to cavalry fighting. Li Qing'an looked back at his large brigade. Although he had two thousand troops, these thousand carriages were a big burden.

He pondered for a moment and said, "Transfer my order and the team will enter Yumen Pass!"

Yumen Pass is an important city in the Hexi Corridor. There are hundreds of families living in the city, with about 300 troops stationed, of which 200 people are stationed in the pass. There is also a garrison fort 15 miles north of Yumen Pass, called Heheshu, and there are 100 troops stationed.

At noon, the Beiting Brigade drove into Yumen Pass, squeezing the small city into pieces, and the two cross streets were filled with carriages, and hundreds of households made an empty house for the family to live in.

Li Qing'an arranged the master and servant of Wuyi in a villa of a large Han family. The courtyard was small and exquisite, with three rooms, ponds and rockery, and dense forests, and planted with various flowers and trees. It was originally the boudoir of the only daughter of this family. Wuyi and the other two lived in it, but did not affect the owner's life, but gave her a companion.

Li Qing'an was preparing to rest for three days at Yumen Pass so that Wu Yi, who had worked hard all the way, could take good care of her body. Seeing Wu Yi and her little mother get along well, he quickly walked out of the mansion. As soon as he arrived on the street, an officer hurriedly came up to him.

The head officer is the highest position in Yumen Pass. He is a lieutenant with his surname, Jiu Sanwei, and is from Dunhuang County. Jiu is a big surname in Dunhuang. Sanwei Mountain is a small hill east of Dunhuang. He got his name because of it. Jiuli Mountain is short, fat and chubby, and is very good at expressing.

He hurriedly stepped forward and half-kneeled to Li Qing'an to salute, "I am not good at Yumen Pass, the commander of Jiuli Mountain to meet the envoy."

"Please get up with the wine captain, I'm going to find you."

Li Qingan saw this person when he passed by Yumen Pass before. Seeing that he was fatter than before, he couldn't help but feel very kind, and smiled and said, "Does the wine captain still remember me?"

The wine captain scratched the back of his head and said, "I look a little familiar, but I really can't remember it."

Li Qingan also knew that there were many people coming and going to Yumen Pass, so he probably couldn't remember him anymore, so he smiled and said, "Go to my big tent! I have important things to ask you."

Li Qing'an's main business tent is just a hundred steps away, and it was built on the street. Just now, the soldiers were still knocking on wooden stakes to make the tent solid. Wang Changling was busy packing up all kinds of documents in the tent. Generally, higher vocational people have many aides, some of whom handle official duties for the lord, or part of their power, such as military farm envoys, military armor envoys, etc. Such aides often have a false position; the other part is a counselor and staff officer. Wang Changling belongs to the former, while Yan Zhuang is the latter.

Wang Changling was busy sorting out documents, while Yan Zhuang sat at the table and carefully studied the map near Yumen Pass. At this time, Li Qing'an quickly walked into the big tent and followed the lieutenant Jiu Sanwei.

Li Qing'an walked into the tent and waved his hand. More than a dozen personal soldiers retreated one after another. Li Qing'an sat down and asked, "Wine Captain, are there any horse bandits in Guazhou?"

"Yes, there are several groups of horse bandits, most of which are Qianghu, at most, one group is about 300 people, and at least dozens of people."

"Then why doesn't the army annihilate them?"

"Annihilation?" The wine captain licked his dry lips with his tongue and smiled bitterly: "How can he annihilate it? You can't catch it at all. During the day, they are all herdersmen, but at night they turn into horse bandits and attack merchants everywhere."

"Where is the army?" Li Qingan asked coldly: "Did Mo Lijun act like this?"

"Don't mention the army. There are 5,000 people in Moli's army, but 3,000 people are Qianghu. If you want them to beat their own people, you can dream! Many horse bandits have passed on for generations. The elder brother is in the army and the brothers robbed the business and travelers. Generally speaking, as long as they are not doing too much, the superiors will not ask about it."

"What does it mean to be too much?"

"It's just that we don't kill everyone, and we don't let anyone die. In addition, we are not allowed to touch the Hu merchants escorted by the army. As long as these two rules are met, the superiors will turn a blind eye."

"So that's how it is." Li Qing'an and Yan Zhuang exchanged a wink and asked again: "Will there be three or four thousand bandits appear?"

Jiu Sanwei was so scared that he shook his neck and said, "Don't joke, please don't be joking. Three or four thousand people are not horse bandits, that is the Uighur army. It is possible that the horse bandits with three or four thousand people are possible?"

"What if it's Shatu? Is it possible?"

"It is very likely that Shatu people. They usually have thousands of people going out to grazing across Xingxing Gorge to Daze. If it were them, things would be troublesome. Eight or ten people would bleed. Nearly a hundred people died in a battle with Qiang and Hu the previous year."

"Why do you fight hard?" Wang Changling also put down the documents and asked.

"Just compete for the ranch!" Jiu Sanwei sighed and said, "The grass is rich and the water is abundant north of the Great Lakes. It is the most ideal pasture. At this time of year, the Uighurs in the north, the Shatu people in the west, the local Qiang and Hu tribes, as well as some scattered Turkic tribes will gather here. They will not leave one after another until the new lambs can walk in June. It would be fine if they could be together. I was afraid that the sheep and horses would be lost and the battle would probably be caused."

The lieutenant left, Li Qing'an pondered and said nothing, and things became complicated. The three, four, three thousand horses found by the scouts might be herders, Qiang, Hu, Shatuo, and Uighurs, and of course it could be the "horse bandits" sent by An Sishun to attack them. The question is where will the horse bandits attack them? Is Yumen Pass? It is unlikely. If he was a horse bandit, he would rather attack halfway without city protection.

"Mr. Yan, it seems that An Sishun is not as stupid as we think."

After a while, Li Qingan smiled bitterly.

"He is a commander-in-chief. How can such a thing be planned carefully? It is precisely because he knew that chaos would occur in the Daze Lake grassland at this time, so he used the chaos to make us not know who the attacker was. If I was right, the traces discovered by the scout yesterday should be Shatuo people, and the bandits were still holding their troops and waiting for the opportunity."
Chapter completed!