Chapter 114 Coincidental encounter with the food caravan
There was a caravan of camels and horses in front of him. The camel team was clustered in the middle, and the horses were scattered at the edges and at the head and tail of the team. They seemed to be business travelers from Dashi. The businessmen riding camels were wrapped in white robes, with their heads on their heads.
His body was wrapped in white cloth into a big bag, and his face was covered with a black gauze scarf.
Riding on the outside of the caravan were some Han Chinese wearing thick brocade robes and futou. They carried small black flags behind them, carried horizontal knives at their waists, and carried long spears. Judging from their attire, they were similar to those of the marching people.
Judging from the queue, it should not be an official escort team.
These should be some escort families near Ganzhou and Shazhou. In this era, there was no concept of escort bureaus. It was just a profession that came into being along with the Silk Road. It was usually a family business, inherited from father to son, and uncles, sons and nephews went on the road together.
Escort passing caravans and get a hefty reward after successfully escorting them to the location.
The escort team is a legal private organization, which is more formal than the gray industry of swordsmen.
The Tang Dynasty was a country of virtue, and the corresponding colors were yellow and ocher. No civil institution was allowed to use these two colors, otherwise it would be a crime of transgression. The flags used by civil escorts and swordsmen were usually black.
Two colors: blue and green.
"Master Jun, where are you from?"
Li Siye came to his senses, clasped his fists on his horse and said, "I am Li Siye, who is under the command of the Anxi Governor. This time I followed the Governor to take up a post in Anxi. I was delayed for a while on the way and fell behind the team."
The young man crossed his arms and said happily: "Just in time, this food caravan is on its way back, and the military master can go with us."
Li Siye nodded, and just as the boy was about to turn around and leave, Li Siye suddenly stopped him and said, "Do you have any fodder or bean cakes in your caravan? I, the livestock, have been traveling so much that they haven't eaten for several days."
The boy looked at the skinny animals around Li Siye and frowned in embarrassment. These camels and horses were hungry for days and days, and it would take a lot of fodder to feed them.
He had no choice but to cross his hands and bow and said: "Master Jun, I can't make the final decision on this matter. I have to ask our master."
"Okay, go ahead and ask."
The young man took two steps back timidly. In front of him, Li Siye's armor was stained with blood and exuded a strong smell of blood. He was carrying a long sword with a cold and sharp edge behind him, which was full of evil aura.
The young man walked quickly to the front of the caravan. Li Siye followed him and noticed the three leaders. The leader of this escort team was over 40 years old. He had a powerful figure and a wisp of hair floating on his chin.
He has a long gray beard. There are two young men behind him, one on the left and one on the right, both wearing open-collared Hufu. One of them has long and narrow cheeks and a short mustache at the corners of his lips. The other is white and beardless and has a very handsome oval face.
The boy was gesticulating and saying something in front of the escort's horse. The escort nodded while stroking his beard, but the two young men behind him frowned, looking very unhappy.
"Why, we have just enough fodder to go back and forth, what will we give our horses to eat?"
The head guard turned around and educated the two of them with sincerity: "When we go out, we must be courteous and respectful to people in the government, especially these Qixi officers and soldiers. We must not offend them. If we offend them, we may encounter them at the checkpoint in the future, and they will inevitably give us
Little shoes to wear. Divide some of our hay and give it to him."
Although the two juniors disagreed, the head guard dismounted himself, took off the grain and fodder bags from the horses in the rear team, and led the servants towards Li Siye.
The head guard came to Li Siye's camel, bowed and crossed his hands and saluted, "I am Suotong from Guazhou, and I am here to pay my respects to Li Shuzheng."
Li Siye hugged the camel and said, "I have Mr. Laosuo."
The boy personally held the hay bag to feed the horse. Li Siye pointed to the skinny black fat and said: "For this horse, please feed me some bean cakes."
The corner of the boy's mouth twitched, thinking that this military commander is really a bad guy, it would be nice to have hay to eat. As expected, these officers and soldiers are all unreasonable.
Suotong had a natural look on his face. He pointed at the fat black man like sticks with a smile and asked, "This horse has a good frame. What's its name?"
"Black and fat."
Suotong was startled, stroking his beard and said: "It's black, but where can I see such fatness?"
Li Siye said: "More than a month ago, it was still fat."
Suotong suddenly looked at Li Siye, wondering what the hell had happened to this military commander. He was covered in blood, as if he had just trudged out of the sea of blood from the mountain of corpses. He then lowered his head to look at the five heads hanging on the camel, and there was one person who looked very strange.
Familiar.
He had a look of shock on his face, his body trembled involuntarily, he staggered back a few steps, and his fingers trembled as he pointed at his head.
Li Siye was also shocked. Anyone who showed such an expression was either a close relative or a blood feud. He must have met Zhang Kuo's relatives.
With excitement on his face, Suotong raised his head and pointed at Zhang Kuo's head and asked Li Siye: "Master Jun, this is..."
Li Siye finally felt relieved, and he could still distinguish between excitement and grief.
"This is the bandit Zhang Kuo."
"This, this is...this thief was killed by you?"
Li Siye nodded calmly: "I came to Anxi to take office. When passing through the desert, I encountered these predators and robbed them. I took action and executed them on the spot."
Naturally, Suotong would not believe this statement. Zhang Kuo, the vulture, had a prominent reputation in the desert. He was also notorious for being vicious and difficult to deal with. Moreover, Li Siye's armor was bloody and he suffered several wounds. Even his horses were starved to the point of ghosts. He
It must have taken several rounds of bloody battles to kill Zhang Kuo's gang. But it was precisely this that made Suotong's face show admiration, gratitude, and reverence.
Li Shuzheng only went to Anxi to take office and had no responsibility to catch bandits. When he saw injustice on the road, he drew his sword to rescue the robbed caravan. After defeating Bandit Zhang, he pursued the bandit thousands of miles deep into the desert. After dozens of days and nights of tenacious bloody battles, he beheaded the bandit leader!
Such a picture emerged in his mind. Li Siye was carrying a Mo knife, walking alone in the desert with a man and a horse. With strong determination and belief, he allowed the gangsters to escape before his eyes time and time again, but did not give up easily. These hungry people
The skinny horse is proof, and the bloodstains on his body are proof. This is the real warrior of the Tang Dynasty! This is the real hero!
Some tears welled up in Suotong's eyes, and he knelt down on the ground excitedly: "My benefactor, please accept Suotong's bow! You are the benefactor of our Suo family!"
Li Siye was a little embarrassed, and quickly got off his horse and lifted Suotong from the ground: "No need to thank me, I am too... Well, as a soldier of the Tang Dynasty, it is my duty to protect the country and the people, and I can't kill the bandits.
This is a matter of duty, and I cannot accept such a great gift."
Suotong turned around and took two quick steps, then stretched out his hand to summon two juniors with strange expressions: "Yuan Yu! Yuen Long! Come and bow down to your benefactor! Your father-killing enemy has been found!"
Suo Yuanyu and Suo Yuanlang had expressions of disbelief on their faces. They hurriedly stepped forward. When they saw the five or six heads on the horse and recognized the appearance of their enemy, they immediately showed gratitude and knelt side by side on the ground towards Li Siye.
.
Suotong crossed his arms and said to Li Siye: "These two children are my nephews. Our Suo family has been escorting passing caravans in the desert for generations. Their father and we encountered the vulture Zhang Kuo a year ago when we were escorting the Persian caravan.
We were almost outnumbered and brutally killed, and only my two children and I survived."
He turned to Yuan Yu again and Yuen Long said:
"This Li Suzheng encountered an injustice on the road. He chased for thousands of miles and killed all the vultures. Yuen Long, Yuen Yu, why don't you kneel down and worship your benefactor!"