In the next two days, Li Ye asked Nalan Yu to select some trustworthy soldiers from the imperial army, stay with him in the city lord's mansion, and teach them step by step how to assemble the hand slaves.

After all, there is a war to be fought. If he were to assemble it alone, he would be exhausted for years to come.

City Lord Yang Kaiyi, Ma Feihu and other generals all received the weapons assembled by Li Ye. Everyone was very happy and found a place to test-fire the newly obtained weapons and thanked Li Ye again and again.

Li Ye asked Nalan Yu to select soldiers who were good at shooting from the Forbidden Army, and after Shou Shou assembled a group, he immediately put these soldiers into training.

It was said that there would be important events in the next few days, and one must not miss the matter. Nalanyu knew the importance of the matter, so he called Jiang Shangyun, the general of the Forbidden Army, and Linghu Zhen and Long Xuan, the deputy generals, to discuss how to deal with this matter.

After explaining what they had to do, Li Ye and Mu Mu packed their things early on the third day and came to Yang Kaiyi's house to say goodbye.

When Yang Kaiyi saw it, he quickly said: "Master, are you serious? It's freezing cold here. Isn't it good to stay in the city?"

Li Ye shook his head with a smile and said: "It is precisely because of the cold weather that the soldiers from the grassland tribes probably won't come out, so I just go for a walk. Do you think I'm looking for a fight with them?"

Listening to what he said in the night, Mu Mu giggled at the side.

"Hey, do you want to inform the eldest prince?" Yang Kaiyi was undecided and wanted to confirm with the eldest prince.

"I'm just going for a walk, and I'll be back in three or four days, or five or six days at most. Isn't there General Ma to take care of me? What should the city lord be afraid of?"

Li Ye smiled and continued: "Find me a carriage, pulled by two horses. In an emergency, you can leave the carriage and ride back."

He didn't know if this trip would go smoothly. If he encountered a crowd that he couldn't defeat, it would be fair to run away quickly.

When Yang Kaiyi heard this, he smiled and replied: "The carriage has been arranged two days ago. Do you want to arrange a driver for the Imperial Guard?"

Li Ye lowered his head and thought for a moment, then said with a smile: "Then please arrange for another soldier who is familiar with the road and bring an extra horse behind, just in case of emergency."

He and Mu Mu first came to southern Xinjiang. When they left the city, their eyesight almost went dark. It was necessary to find a local soldier as a guide.

Yang Kaiyi nodded and asked Li Ye to wait for him in the room. He turned around and went out to arrange for the guide and carriage to lead the way.

"Brother, why don't you bring Brother Nalan with you?" Mu Mu asked puzzledly.

"Brother Nalan has more important things. I asked him to keep an eye on the progress of the casting and assembly of the hand slave. I don't trust leaving this matter to anyone else. He is the only one at the moment."

Li Ye looked at the gloomy sky outside the house and replied softly.

"Brother, don't worry, Mu Mu is with you." Mu Mu clenched her fists and said.

Just as he was talking, Yang Kaiyi led a man in his thirties, five feet tall, with sword-like eyes and starry eyebrows, and dressed in black robes, in.

Pointing at Li Ye, he said: "General Ma, this is the Imperial Advisor. Your mission here is to take the Imperial Advisor around the three towns... You must ensure the safety of the Imperial Advisor and come back as soon as possible."

.”

Yang Kaiyi explained again and again.

"The Imperial Guard is Ma Tianyun, the deputy general of Xichun City. He is familiar with the situation in the three towns. Let him stay with you on this trip. Firstly, he can drive the Imperial Guard's carriage, and secondly, he can protect the Imperial Guard's safety."

Ma Tianyun walked up to Li Ye, bowed and said: "The last general, Ma Tianyun, has met the Imperial Master and is willing to serve for the Imperial Master."

Li Ye looked at the two of them and smiled lightly, and said: "This has caused trouble to City Lord Yang and General Ma, let's set off now." After saying that, he walked out of the house.

...

It was late winter, the ground in southern Xinjiang was freezing and the weather was freezing, the air turned into frost, and the fields were filled with chills.

Li Ye did not let Yang Kaiyi see him off. After leaving the city lord's mansion, he and Mu Mu jumped into the carriage, and Ma Tianyun drove the carriage to the south city gate.

The soldiers guarding the city had received the order early, and saw that it was Ma Tianyun who was driving the carriage in person. After verifying the seal of the city lord's palace, they waved to let them go. The moat had been completed, and the soldiers guarding the city gate lowered the trestle to let Li Ye's carriage pass.

The carriage pressed against the trestle, making a creaking sound that was particularly unpleasant.

Li Ye looked at Mu Mu lying on the quilt in the carriage, smiled, and an iron bow appeared in his hand.

This was cast by him in the back mountain of Xuantian Temple. It was one size smaller than the one Ouyang Dongli gave him, and it was suitable for Mu Mu's use.

"This is more powerful than the hand slave. I spent a lot of effort to cast it. If I want it again, I don't have the materials."

Li Ye said as he handed the iron bow to Mu Mu.

Mu Mu's eyes lit up, she grabbed the iron bow and asked, "How does this compare with the bow in my brother's hand?"

Li Ye rolled his eyes at her and said with a smile: "Same!"

After saying that, he took out twenty iron arrows that had been cast before, put them in the carriage, and said in a solemn voice: "I made these twenty arrows from special materials. This kind of material is probably difficult to find in the five regions. With one

If one is missing, don’t use it unless it’s critical, just use ordinary bamboo arrows and iron arrows.”

Fifty iron arrows were shot at the mountain stream opposite the cave. There were still forty-nine arrows. Now I gave Mu Mu twenty, and he still had twenty-nine. It was really one less arrow.

Mu Mu put away the iron arrow like a treasure, looked at Li Ye and said with a smile: "That's more or less, otherwise I wouldn't even want to talk to you, and you wouldn't give me one first when assembling the weapon."

Li Ye was stunned and couldn't help but stretched out his hand to pinch her little face and said: "You can have as many hand slaves as you want. How can the range be as good as this one? I guess you can pull half of it."

Mu Mu gave him a grimace and said with a smile: "We'll try again when we get to the three towns in southern Xinjiang. Lie down for a while, I got up too early today." After that, he got into bed again.

Not long after coming out of Nanyun City, the two countries along the official road were covered with countless meadows, and the leaves of the scattered trees on the meadows had long since fallen.

The carriage was walking on the official road. Li Ye opened the curtain of the car window and took a quick look. His vision was blocked by thick snow and fog, and he could not see further.

For example, will there be ambushes of grassland soldiers in the distant wilderness, or hunters from southern Xinjiang or the grasslands who come out to hunt in snowy weather?

Nowadays, the situation in the southern border fortress seems to be calm, and that is only because of the weather.

But Li Ye knew that as long as next spring came, the cavalrymen from the grassland tribes would definitely raise their troops and head north, looking for an earth-shattering battle.

Before that, he had to familiarize himself with the terrain from Sanzhen to Nanyun City as soon as possible, and not let the war burn anywhere.

Thinking of this, Li Ye got out of the warm car, sat next to Ma Tianyun and looked towards the three towns in southern Xinjiang.

Frowning, he asked, "General Ma, how many days is the journey from Nanyun City to Sanzhen?"

Ma Tianyun, who was driving the car, looked at Li Ye who came out and said with a smile: "Master Imperial Master, why don't you stay in the car? It's very cold outside... From Nanyun City to Xichun Town,

It usually takes two days of horseback riding, but the road is difficult to walk in this snowy weather, so it will probably take a little more than three days."

"Weren't the official channels destroyed?" Li Ye frowned.

"We were in such a hurry to retreat that we didn't have time to destroy officialdom." Ma Tianyun shook his head and said with a bitter smile.

"Are the distances between these three towns the same? How many days is the journey from Xiaguan to Xichun?" Li Ye continued to ask.

"It takes one day on weekdays to go from Xiaguan to Xichun, and it takes one and a half days at the fastest on this snowy day. It's the same from Xichun to Kaiyang. It's for this reason that it is called the Three Towns of Southern Xinjiang."

Ma Tianyun took out the wine bottle from his chest, opened the lid and took a sip. He looked at Li Ye and asked, "Master, would you like to take a sip to go to the cold place?"

Li Ye shook his head and asked, "Is there a place to spend the night along the way?"

"There is a post station halfway, but all the people have left now. Let's go and try. If there are no soldiers and horses in the grassland, we can stay overnight to avoid the cold." Ma Tianyun said with a smile.

Li Ye nodded and said, "Then give it a try. It's better to have a place to spend the night than to stay in the wild."

...

Just as Ma Tianyun said, the carriage drove along the snow-covered official road halfway through Shenshi and arrived at the former post station of the southern Xinjiang garrison.

It's just that the houses have been deserted. There are only two lonely houses, standing in the wind and snow, as uninhabited as a haunted house.

Ma Tianyun drove the carriage into the inn, patted the carriage and shouted: "Master Imperial Master, we have arrived at the inn. Let's rest here tonight. I will go find some dry firewood to keep warm and cook."

Li Ye, who heard the sound, responded, opened the curtain and got out.

Looking at the deserted inn, he turned around and shouted: "Mumu, come out for a walk quickly, you've been in the car all day."

"Stop yelling. I've been bored all day and I'm so dizzy." Mu Mu yelled as she replied.

Li Ye led the horses following the carriage, unhooked the two horses pulling the carriage from the reins of the carriage, and pulled the three horses towards the stable of the inn.

He also found beans and hay from the inn, put them into the manger, clapped his hands and said, "Fortunately, there is a place for you to shelter from the wind and cold. You don't have to spend the night in the wild. Eat more, because you have to travel tomorrow."

"Can this horse understand what you are talking to them? I'm hungry too." Mu Mu, who was following him, muttered.

After Li Ye packed up the horse supplies, he pulled Mu Mu out of the stable and said with a smile: "Go to the inn to find a clean room to tidy up first. When General Ma comes back, we will light a fire and cook. You won't be hungry."

"

Looking at the increasingly dense wind and snow in the gloomy sky, Mu Mu frowned and said, "The wind and snow in southern Xinjiang are really heavy, not much worse than those on Tianshan Mountain."

Li Ye reached out to wipe the snowflakes from her hair and said with a smile: "Do you feel that we are back to the Tianshan Mountains at this time?"

Mu Mu shook her head and said, "I don't think so. I feel so cold. I have to put on the leather jacket my mother bought for me at night."

Li Ye was stunned and sighed softly: "What a boring girl."

It gets dark early in winter, and the snow gets heavier and heavier as night falls.

Ma Tianyun carried a lot of dry firewood from behind the inn and started to light a fire to cook in the living room of the inn. Li Ye took some dried meat and mushrooms and planned to cook a pot of hot meat porridge to relieve the cold.

Mu Mu was boiling water on the side. She didn't like drinking tea very much, so she couldn't help but make a pot of hot tea to avoid the cold.
Chapter completed!