At the end of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 268
Gao Shixiong and the others finally caught up one after another. When the four horses saw the fresh green grass by the lake, they immediately dispersed, each occupying a large piece of land, grabbing this generous gift from nature in late autumn, Winter is coming soon, and if you want to eat such tender and juicy aquatic plants next time, you have to wait until next spring when the flowers bloom, or go further south.

"Master Bufan, this is really a good place to raise horses." Gao Shou looked around and couldn't help sighing the same as Gao Bufan.

Raising horses is different from raising pigs. First of all, you have to have a vast horse farm for the horses to run and have fun, and secondly, the nutrition supply.Running is the instinct of a horse. All horses are born to run like the wind. A horse without a place to display its instinct is equivalent to losing its soul. On the battlefield, even plowing the fields and pulling carts would be incompetent.

This place is a natural grassland, rich in water and grass, vast and infinite, and at a moderate latitude, it is indeed a good place for raising horses.Horses are cold-resistant and afraid of heat, and the hotter they are, the more likely they are to get sick. Therefore, the hot south is not suitable for raising horses. Even if they can raise them, they cannot raise good horses.

"Boss Changqing, could this be Yuyi Town?" Gao Shiheng asked.

Gao Bufan nodded and said: "According to the marking on the map, it is indeed here."

Gao Shiheng turned his head around, scratched his big head and asked suspiciously: "Didn't you say that there are Xi people grazing in this area? How come you haven't even seen a ghost?"

"Xi people live after water and grass. I guess they have gone to other places to graze. Hehe, isn't it better? While they are away, let's occupy this place first and build a horse farm." Gao Shixiong is eager to fight. typical.

Gao Shou rolled his eyes and said, "How do we occupy it? Just the five of us? We're not tigers. We'll just piss and draw a circle. Although Xi Ren is not here now, he will come back when the spring is warm and the flowers bloom. Seeing that your territory has been taken, you will definitely fight us."

Gao Shiheng grinned and said: "Just do it, whoever is afraid of whom, it's just a bunch of savages who drink blood, I'm still afraid of them, come and kill as many as they come, until they don't dare to come."

"Yeah, fuck him to death." Gao Shixiong couldn't resist, and raised the horse in his hand to express his strong support for his brother's words. He looked murderous and eager to try. It seems that the two brothers are not only martial idiots , or a war madman.

Gao Bufan disagreed. In his opinion, it would be best if he could not use force. After all, although the number of Xi people is not large, there should still be 60,000 people, and Xi people surrendered to the Sui Dynasty on the surface. Yang Guang also acquiesced in their grazing in this area.

In addition, Yang Guang is currently preparing for the second eastward expedition to Goguryeo in Zhuojun. He vowed to avenge his shame. If his side fights with the Xi people, causing instability in the north of Zhuojun, Yang Guang will definitely be upset. If Yu Wenhua and his ilk take the opportunity to impeach themselves for "opening border quarrels", I am afraid that Yang Guang will order his own head to be taken off to appease Xi Ren in a fit of anger.

Therefore, the best way at present is to find the Xiren tribe who are grazing here, fully communicate with them, and then live in harmony. You herd your sheep, I raise my horses, communicate with each other, good-neighborly and friendly, and stand firm The heels have grown in strength, and we will talk about battles in the future.

When you are still weak, it is best to develop insignificantly, unless it is absolutely necessary, don't make waves!

In fact, before Gao Bufan came here to investigate, he had fully considered that the Xiren tribe was so poor that they could not even produce iron pots and cloth. If he could bring them visible benefits, it would be as good as giving them what they needed. Daily necessities, presumably these Xiren tribes would be happy to let them build a horse farm here. Anyway, the place here is big enough, and the population of Xiren is sparse.

Of course, the racecourse must also have the ability to protect itself. A fat pig without fangs and claws is just meat on someone else's chopping board. Think about it.

quack quack...

At this time, there were several unpleasant chirping sounds from the sky, and everyone looked up. It turned out that there were two vultures flying over their heads. Creatures are not interested.

Gao Bufan's heart moved, he jumped on the horse's back and said, "Follow these two vultures." Shuo Yuan took the lead in urging the horse to catch up.

Gao Shixiong and the others also hurriedly got on their horses, and under the whip of the master's whip, the four war horses, which were greedy for tender grass, reluctantly left the lake and ran northwards behind the big green horse.

The flying speed of the vulture is not fast, and the terrain is open, so everyone didn't lose track. They ran northward for about ten miles, and a meandering river appeared here, like a jade belt inlaid on the grassland.

quack quack...

At this time, the two vultures finally stopped, circling in the sky and screaming strangely. After a while, they suddenly swooped down and disappeared behind a grassy slope in front of them.

Gao Shou licked his lips and said: "These bald birds are useless, they probably found food, Master Fanfan, what are we going to do with these things, it's really bad luck."

"Because you can find the Xiren tribe by following them." After Gao Bufan finished speaking, he got off his horse, took the reins and walked up the grassy slope. If it is not wrong, Xiren's tribe should be on the other side of the grassy slope, so as not to cause trouble Misunderstood, so Gao Bufan led the horse and went.

Everyone looked up to Gao Bufan, and when they saw this, they all got off their horses and led the reins to walk. Gao Shiheng asked a little puzzled: "Boss Changqing, why are we looking for Xi Ren?"

Gao Bufan casually pulled out a grass stalk and put it in his mouth, and said slowly: "Of course I will do business with them."

"Hey, a group of savages who drink blood, they have nothing but cattle, sheep and horses. Boss Changqing, what kind of business do you plan to do with them? We are here to raise horses, so it's almost like robbing them for business." Gao Shixiong said hesitantly.

Gao Bufan laughed and said: "You can't say that, Xi people still have a lot of good things, such as all kinds of fur and ginseng and other herbs, of course, if Shixiong likes, he can also buy a few beauties of the Xi clan back home. "

Gao Shixiong immediately waved his hands and shook his head and said, "Let's forget it, the women I saw in the Khitan League tent last time were all dirty, and there was an unpleasant smell of sheep on their bodies, I almost vomited it out after dinner, Xi Ren is worse than Khitan, so I don’t even want to give it away for free.”

Gao Shiheng said sharply: "I saw a few good-looking Khitan women. Wash them well and change into beautiful clothes. They must be rare beauties. If they are free, I will definitely take them."

Gao Shixiong rolled his eyes: "Why do they send you for nothing?"

Seeing that the two brothers were about to fight again, Gao Bufan quickly stepped up the hillside, not hearing anything, but when he turned up the hillside, his expression changed slightly, and he quickly spit out the grass stalk he was holding in his mouth. He looked down the hillside solemnly.

Seeing this, Gao Shixiong and his brothers looked at each other, and stopped arguing. They hurriedly led the horse and ran up the hillside, and were immediately dumbfounded.

Below the hillside is a small river bend. There are a large number of carriages parked on the grassland of the river bend. It is estimated that there are hundreds of them. However, these carriages are completely different from the common domestic carriages. There is no rectangular carriage, but a roof is built on the carriage. , The proportion of the two wheels is extremely large, which looks very strange.

The cars formed a circle, but they didn't see a single animal. There were rotting corpses all over the place, and a dozen vultures were scattered all around happily pecking at those carrion corpses.

Gao Bufan quickly held his breath, Gao Shou and others covered their noses one after another.

"Boss Changqing, you are right. You can indeed find the Xiren tribe by following these vultures, but they have all turned into dead people." Gao Shixiong said, holding his nose.

Xi people are good at building carts, but they are not horse carts, but ox carts. Because oxen carry more weight and have more stamina, Xi people are more willing to use ox carts. They put all their belongings on ox carts and live by water and grass Every time they go to a place to graze, they will surround all the ox carts of the tribe as a camp. Obviously, they are a Xiren tribe in front of them, but for some reason, all the members of this tribe have died.

"This Xiren tribe should have been plundered and massacred by other tribes. No need to guess, all men must have been killed, women and children, and all cattle and sheep were all looted. This is the habit of nomadic tribes. How to do it." Gao Shou sighed.

"You're not right!" Gao Bufan shook his head solemnly.

"Master Bufan, what's wrong?" Gao Shou asked back, obviously not convinced.

Gao Bufan pointed to the corpses scattered around on the hillside, and said in a deep voice, "These corpses don't look like they were slaughtered, but more like they died naturally."

Everyone looked carefully, and it was true, because many corpses fell by the river. Looking at the posture, they seemed to be drinking water before they were alive, and more corpses died in the circle surrounded by vehicles, and some of them were still lying on the ground. On the bullock cart, there was no trace of blood around.

Gao Bufan pointed to the oxen lanes arranged in a circle: "If you were the leader of the tribe who plundered, would you take these carriages with you?"

Gao Shou was silent for a moment, the Xi people had all their wealth in the ox carts, and it was indeed unlikely that the looters would abandon these ox carts.

Gao Shixiong gave a thumbs up and said, "Boss Changqing's eyes are still shining. I also think that these people were not killed, so how did they die? It's too weird. They couldn't be killed by collective poisoning."

Gao Bufan nodded, "It's possible." People who are poisoned usually want to drink water, and Xi who died by the river obviously wanted to drink water.

"Let's stop guessing, we'll find out if we go down and have a look." Gao Shiheng led his horse and was about to walk down the hillside, Gao Bufan hurriedly shouted: "Wait a minute!"

Gao Shiheng stopped in his tracks and asked in astonishment, "Boss Changqing, what's wrong?"

Gao Bufan hesitated for a moment, then ordered: "The horses stay on the hillside, let's walk down, remember, don't touch those dead bodies, I always feel that something is wrong."

Seeing Gao Bufan's serious expression, everyone dared not neglect, and hurriedly promised to leave the horses on the hillside, and Gao Ren would take care of them alone, and then the four of them went down the hillside.

The closer the crowd got to the river bend, the more intense the stench. Gao Bufan took out a handkerchief to cover his mouth and nose, and then tied his trousers and cuffs tightly. The high head was clever, and he quickly followed suit. The young master has a good brain, Follow him right.

Seeing this, Gao Shixiong and Gao Shiheng looked at each other in blank dismay, and asked, "Boss Changqing, what are you doing, what are you doing?"

"Be careful to make the Ten Thousand Years Ship. If you don't want to die for no reason, you'd better be careful. I suspect it's a plague." Gao Bufan said in a deep voice.

Gao Shixiong and Gao Shiheng were taken aback, and lost their voices: "Fuck, Boss Changqing, why didn't you say so earlier."

"I'm just skeptical, I hope not!" Gao Bufan said calmly.

Gao Shixiong and Gao Shiheng hurriedly took out their handkerchiefs to cover their mouths and noses, and then unfastened their cuffs and trousers. Although they didn't know the significance of doing this, they were right to follow the boss Changqing.

Finally, the four of them walked to the nearest corpse and stood still a few meters away.The corpse looked like a male, and it was unknown how long he had been dead. The flesh was completely rotted and maggots grew, and some parts showed white bones, but nothing could be seen.

Everyone looked at each other, bypassed the corpse and continued to move forward. The vultures were not afraid at all when they saw Gao Bufan and the living people.

At this time, the four of them finally came to the bend of the river. A corpse lying on the riverside looked relatively "fresh". Gao Shixiong was about to stretch out his horse and turn the corpse over, but Gao Bufan quickly shouted: "Don't move!"

Gao Shixiong quickly retracted Ma Qiang, and said in a friendly voice, "It shouldn't matter if you don't touch it with your hands."

"Then do you want your Ma Qian?" Gao Bufan asked coldly, and Gao Shixiong was stunned for a moment.

Gao Bufan took out a feathered arrow and carefully stabbed it into the back of the corpse's head. Disgusting blood immediately flowed out. With a soft click, it felt that the sharp arrow had pierced the skull. Turning his head over, he immediately saw the face full of sores and the neck that was red, swollen and festered.

Gao Bu's complexion changed slightly, and he used the same method to inspect several nearby corpses. Sure enough, the death was similar to the first one, with swollen and festered scars all over the body, which is the characteristic of pneumonic plague.

"Boss Changqing, what's the matter? Is it plague?" Gao Shixiong and the others were also terrified at the moment, and regretted running down to take a dip in this muddy water.

"It's pneumonic plague, hurry up, don't touch anything here." Gao Bufan threw away the arrow, reminded sharply, turned around and left.

Gao Shixiong and the others were shocked. The word plague was like urging an evil ghost to die. They turned pale when they talked about it. They hurriedly ran up the hillside behind Gao Bufan.

When Gao Ren saw the four people coming back, he was about to go forward, when Gao Bufan yelled, "Don't come within ten feet of us!"

Gao Ren was so frightened that he hurriedly stopped and was at a loss, Gao Shixiong and the others also turned pale, and Gao Bufan's prudence obviously frightened them too, thinking they had already been caught by the plague ghost.

"Boss Changqing, what should we do now?" Gao Shiheng asked with a mournful face.

Gao Bufan didn't answer, turned around, bent his bow and set his arrows, swishing arrows, shot and killed all the dozen or so vultures that were eating carrion, and none of them missed.

It's just that at this time, everyone was in no mood to applaud, and just looked at Gao Bufan anxiously.

(End of this chapter)