At the end of the morning sun, Zhang Kuo and others searched the entire oasis forest belt before focusing on the post town in the center of the oasis.
There are no tigers in the mountains, and monkeys are kings. As soon as the guards from Laiyao Dudu left, Zhang Kuo and his men showed up in the market town with such arrogance that no one dared to stop them.
There is a post station of the imperial court in the market town. The post chief is a ninth-grade official who manages more than a dozen grooms and chefs, as well as an armed force of ten people and a chief to maintain public order in the market town.
But even so, this oasis on the edge of the desert is still a place outside the law. Zhang Kuo and others have a notorious reputation in the desert. Although they are officials and soldiers of the Tang Dynasty, they encounter
Facing such a powerful enemy, Yangguan and Yumenguan are beyond their reach, so they can only maintain an equal relationship with the bandit swordsmen in order to exchange for temporary peace.
The bandit Zhang Kuo was riding on a horse, passing through the hole in the earth wall, and wandering towards the inn. The people in the market town carefully gathered around, with dry and dull expressions on their faces, looking at this group of people who had suddenly arrived.
uninvited guest.
He reined the horse and stopped in front of the thatched building of the inn. The horse's head kept rising under his strong rein, and its front hooves stepped left and right, making a chirping sound.
"Yicheng! Come out and speak!"
A post soldier guarding the door of the post station immediately pointed the tip of his spear at Zhang Kuo: "You, who are you, a bandit, how dare you roar in front of the imperial post station..."
Zhang Kuo immediately gave a cruel laugh and used his riding whip to deflect the postman's spear.
"You are new here. A newborn calf is so courageous!"
Zhang Kuo suddenly got angry, raised his hand and struck the post soldier on the face with a whip. Blood marks immediately oozed from the post soldier's green face, and he covered his face in pain and bent over.
"Stop talking like an official with me! When I was wearing your skin, you were still twisting your dad's calf!"
If you don't show up at this time, you will lose your prestige in front of the soldiers.
Yang Wulong ran over with a horizontal sword on his arm, stopped in front of Zhang Kuo and said sternly: "Zhang Kuo! Don't think that others dare not provoke you. If you dare to do evil here, my brothers and I will definitely fight you!"
Yang Wulong's men were in charge of ten recruited soldiers. If he faced Zhang Kuo, the outcome was still uncertain. He was betting on his own courage, and he was also betting on the opponent's. The order of the Tang Dynasty court disappeared in this harsh living environment.
What can make them persist is the firm obsession in their hearts.
People who have no obsession will eventually abandon their mission and become gangsters. Not only Zhang Kuo, but also most of the swordsmen and bandits on the Silk Road were once members of the Tang army. After they abandoned their mission, they began to rise to fame.
, brutal and ruthless.
Zhang Kuo smiled and cupped his hands towards Yang Wulong: "Yang Shichang, Zhang Kuo has no other intention in coming here, and he doesn't want to embarrass you. He just wants to ask you about someone."
Yi Cheng was much less courageous than Yang Wulong. He only dared to lie on the wooden railing on the second floor and poke his head out: "Who are you trying to find out?"
Zhang Kuozhong took out a piece of paper from his arms and unfolded it. What was drawn on it was Li Siye's face.
"This man! He is a member of the Laiyao Protectorate Army. He is now alone. Has anyone seen him in the town?"
"Liu Yicheng? You haven't seen him?"
"No!" Liu Yicheng stuck his head out and waved his hand vigorously: "Uncle Zhang, go somewhere else quickly!"
Zhang Kuo unfolded the paper and faced all the people in the market town: "Get to know this person carefully! Don't blame me for not warning you! If anyone dares to take in this person, I, Zhang Kuo, will destroy his whole family!"
There was no color on the haggard faces of the people in the town, and no one had any strange expressions. Zhang Kuo had no choice but to collect the paper, stuff it into his arms, and leave the market town with his men.
Standing outside the earthen wall of the market town, he turned around and suddenly saw a few children picking up food in the fire. One of them was sitting on a dry fallen poplar tree, holding a piece of compressed biscuit in his hand and slowly nibbling on it.
Zhang Kuo instinctively felt strange, walked over quickly, and snatched it from the child's hand.
The child didn't dare to ask for it, so he just stretched out his hands, hoping that the adult in front of him would despise the food and throw it back to him.
"Who gave you this thing? Where did it go?"
The child stood there, silent.
Zhang Kuo drew out his sword and put it against his neck.
"Tell me, which direction did this man go?"
The child raised his hand and pointed to the depths of the desert.
"Are you lying? Children who lie can easily lose their lives." Zhang Kuo brought the blade close to the child.
The child raised his hand and still pointed in the original direction.
"very good!"
…
Li Siye marched in the desert under the scorching sun. There was no cloud in the blue sky, and only the scorching sun hung above his head like a disk of fire.
The edge of the rolling sand dunes could not be seen at a glance. There was no reference in his sight, and he didn't know if it had deviated from the route of the protective team.
Standing on the top of the sand dune and looking around, the surroundings are vast and dead, as if he is the only life left in the whole world, abandoned by fate and God in this desolate sea of sand, in which he can only feel his own insignificance and loss.
He had already taken off his armor and folded it back on the horse. He was looking ahead and wiping the sweat on his forehead. He took off the water bag, opened the cork, and took a sip carefully to prevent the water from spilling outside.
Then he put the water bag to the fat man's mouth and let him stretch out his wide tongue to lick the delicious sweet water.
He has five large-capacity water bags, and two bags are enough for a caravan traveling in the desert. He has a month's worth of homemade compressed biscuits in his backpack, so he doesn't have to worry about thirst or hunger.
What needs to be considered is the route.
He had a homemade compass in his backpack. According to his location, he kept walking northwest. As long as he could find traces of people through the desert, heading to Anxi would no longer be a problem.
Thanks to my rigor and caution, I made so many preparations before leaving, which made this desert trip less anxious. The only thing I need to worry about is the enemy chasing behind. There is a high chance that he will be caught.
That's why we need to speed up and widen the time gap with the enemy.
At night, a dust storm rolled up in the desert. People and horses were covered by the yellow sand in the sky, and then they struggled out. Under the sweep of the strong wind, the entire sand dune would be pushed and moved. He only had to stay in the same place for a while.
Within minutes, half of the body would be buried in the yellow sand.
…
Eight days later, Li Siye led Hei Pang and found a new water source. It seemed like a river in the desert. The sparkling waves meandered in the yellow sand. When the dense reeds on the river bank appeared in front of him, he still couldn't believe it.
He immediately pulled Hei Pang and rushed over, letting him step into the river and drink enough. The three and a half shriveled water bags were filled again, and he regained confidence in winning the journey.
Just downstream of the river, a traveling team also appeared. These six people led four horses and two camels and were drinking water from the river.
In fact, Li Siye had discovered them a long time ago, but his previous encounters made him wary, and he decided to try not to get close to these people, no matter whether they were enemies or friends.
So after he filled the water bag, he quietly bent down, led the horse and tried not to make any noise, and walked slowly to the river bank.
But these people just discovered his traces. The leader stood on the river beach and waved his arms, pretending to be excited and shouting to him: "Brother! Brother, are you going to Anxi?"
Li Siye ignored him and just took the horse and ran away, creating a long splash on the water.
Zhang Kuo saw Li Siye's abnormal behavior, as if a hunting dog had seen carrion. He grinned his teeth, his eyes lit up, and uttered one short word to his friends: "Chase!"