The old horse still walked slowly and leisurely at the front, but compared with yesterday, his steps were obviously much more steady.
Song Dekui sat on his horse, carrying a long knife at his waist and holding a parchment scroll in his hand. He pointed at a curved ink line on it and shouted: "Xiaoyun, this line is the torrent road from Shitanbao!"
Song Liyun was holding the compass to identify the direction and said casually: "Yes, the red stone man said that if you follow this mountain torrent road, you will encounter a muddy pond after a day and a night. It should be not far ahead. We must pay attention to the land under our feet.
, if it’s not frozen, don’t fall in.”
She drew the route she had taken on a map, and used a compass to mark the direction, so that as long as she had a map, she could find her way through the moon and stars.
As they walked, the old horse began to walk around the dead grass.
Song Liyun and the two no longer rode horses, but led the horses and followed closely behind the old horses.
Song Dekui was startled: "Oh my God, it's all ice here!"
Under the tufts of withered grass, there is frozen ice. When the horses' hooves step on it, the ice cracks, making a crunching sound.
In summer, this place should be a swamp with abundant water and grass, which will attract many water birds, wild sheep and wild horses.
It is also a big dinner plate for wolves and other carnivores.
Song Liyun paid attention to his steps and stepped out of the frozen soil.
While observing the surroundings with a telescope, this is the summer hunting ground for wolves, and we must prevent being ambushed by wolves.
Suddenly, she saw smoke rising from a place in the sky, and the smoke column grew bigger and bigger in an instant.
Song Liyun's brows suddenly frowned, and he turned to look at Song Dekui: "Uncle Kui, if someone gets into trouble, do you think we can help?"
Song Dekui poked his head out from behind, with a puzzled look on his face: "What? Who is in trouble? What trouble?"
"I don't know, maybe it's the tribe we're going to... they're in trouble!"
When the red stone man showed Song Liyun the way, he also told him about all the human camps that he might encounter along the way.
People and livestock are inseparable from water, because there is a waterway here. Although it only flows through flash floods in summer, it also allows herdsmen to find several low-lying places where water can be stored.
Now the tribes that came out of the Mida Valley stayed by these waters.
Song Liyun exchanged for Lao Ma because he wanted Lao Ma to find the water source and then find the tribe.
"Come on, Uncle Kui, let's go over and take a look!"
Song Liyun slapped his horse on the back, turned around, and rushed towards the place where the smoke column rose.
Song Dekui said no more and followed closely behind.
When Lao Ma saw that the human who was originally following him suddenly ran away, he stood stunned for a moment and then immediately followed him.
But at this time, Song Liyun no longer cared about the old horse. The chrysanthemum green horse and the bay red horse ran faster and faster, leaving it without a trace in the blink of an eye.
The plume of smoke was still far away from them, and Song Dekui didn't see anything.
It was only after a cup of tea that he saw the faint dark gray.
"Xiaoyun, could he be a bandit? It's dangerous for us to go like this!" Song Dekui shouted loudly.
Song Liyun controlled the horse carefully: "Let's observe from a distance first and don't get close. If there are rogue bandits, we will report to the military camp."
"Okay, this is good, but don't be reckless!" Song Dekui said, holding his long knife tightly.
Song Liyun had been observing the situation over there with a telescope, and suddenly she called out: "Uncle Kui, there seems to be nothing wrong with the tribe. There are cavalry coming over there... They are sergeants, from the Zhenbei Army."
At this time, Song Dekui also saw horses galloping back and forth in the distance, and immediately said in a hurry: "We'd better avoid them first."
He was worried that there were rogue bandits in the tribe and these sergeants would misunderstand him and the two of them.
Song Liyun put away the telescope and said calmly: "Don't rush over now. We are a caravan, so we should put out the big car."
In addition to the large cart placed in Shitanbao, there is also a simple but sturdy trolley in her space.
At this time, she went into the space and took it out. On it was a set of stacked wooden house materials, two sacks of grain, pots and bowls, and wool mats for sleeping. These were the external equipment of her caravan.
Song Dekui had just fixed the cart to the maroon saddle, and the Zhenbei cavalry over there was also ten feet away.
A team of five sergeants from Zhenbei came over. They wore red tasseled felt hats on their heads, and their brown military uniforms with white edges were easy to spot.
Five horses surrounded the uncle and nephew Song Liyun, shouting: "Get off the horse! Get off the horse!"
Song Dekui got out of the car in a polite manner and shouted: "We are the Wu Dynasty caravan, brothers, please don't get me wrong."
"Shut up!" He just opened his mouth to speak, and received several shouts.
Someone had already climbed onto the cart and started to look through the things on it. Unexpectedly, as soon as they put their hands on it, they saw the half-folded Zhenbei Army colorful flags.
"Hey, there is a military flag here, and they stole it."
Someone shouted something and unfurled the flag.
The rest of the people gathered around to take a look. They were patrolling the grassland and had not seen anyone carrying a military flag.
Song Dekui shouted: "Hey! Brother, please don't open your mouth and talk nonsense about stealing. This is what the guards gave us specially because they were worried that we would encounter those who don't have eyes to do anything random."
"You kid still dare to talk back, are you seeking death?"
The person standing next to Song Dekui saw that he was yelling again, and he immediately became angry and kicked Song Dekui on the waist. He cursed and wanted to make a move, but Song Liyun stopped him.
"Sir, you have misunderstood. You should listen to our explanation. It's not too late for you to take action again."
At this time, Song Liyun was wearing a rabbit fur snow cap that covered half of his face, and a leather robe with an khaki cotton jacket. He was so tightly wrapped that he couldn't tell whether he was a man or a woman.
Hearing her clear female voice, the sergeant suddenly realized. He raised his hand to grab the snow cap on her head, and said indiscriminately: "Oh! There is a female here, you must be a couple."
Elope wild mandarin ducks! Let me see what they look like?"
Before Song Dekui could react, Song Liyun's eyes turned cold, and when the sergeant stretched out his hand, she had already stood behind him.
At the same time, a big knife was placed on the sergeant's neck, and he said in a cold voice: "Military discipline of the Zhenbei Army: molesting civilian women at the age of thirty will be expelled from the army. Anyone who rapes civilian women will die!"
I suspect that you are not members of the Zhenbei Army, but spies disguised as rogue bandits."
Her movements were so fast that the sergeants over there didn't even react.
Hearing the words at this time, he pulled out his waist knife and said to Song Liyun: "You dare to be rebellious! Let me go!"
Song Dekui's eyes almost popped out of his head: Spy! Just pretending!
He quickly ran to Song Liyun, took out his long knife and put it on the sergeant's waist: "If you step back, if you say any more, I will cut him with one knife."
With two long knives pressed against his throat and waist, the sergeant who had talked too much and caused trouble just now had turned pale and gritted his teeth without daring to say a word.
The scene was a bit strange. The uncle and nephew of the Song family held the sergeant hostage with a long military sword.
Outside there were four sergeants holding knives blocking the four directions.
Suddenly you looked at me and I looked at you, and they were in a stalemate.
A few breaths passed in the blink of an eye, and everyone saw that something was wrong.