Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Chapter 526 Tracking
"That Tang man must be a noble man!" Tu Yanmang said, "I remember that he had two or three hundred followers around him, and he was very generous. Otherwise, he would not have given us a piece of Sichuan silk so casually. He has a lot of money. There is a high possibility that they will take us in! Besides, we have no other way out now!"

Everyone fell into silence, and no one could refute the girl's words. A few minutes later, someone said: "She is right, we have to go to Songzhou!"

People walked through the woods, the lower branches slapped Tuyanmangjiebo's face, and the leaves wiped away his tears.Before crossing the top of the mountain, she turned her head and took a last look at the village she had never left since she was born. Wisps of gray smoke continued to climb into the sky, which was no different from the usual scene of the village full of cooking smoke in the evening. The distance blurred the details. From a distance, it seems that the village is still the same as before, and everything is intact.Tuyanmangjiebo told himself that as long as we are alive, the Bailan tribe will still exist. The village is not destroyed, but injured, just like myself when I broke my leg. One day, the Bailan tribe will prosper again , just like myself running like flying.

----------------------

Songzhou, alpine meadow.

The sky is gray, it seems to be snowing.

The hound just sniffed the footprints on the ground, then retracted, and returned to the crowd with its tail between its legs.The oncoming cold wind pierced through the fur coat and felt, and Liu Gao also felt cold. Even the dog couldn't stand the damn weather, but I had to go out to patrol in the snow.Thinking of this, his mouth twisted into a ball, and the pimple on his face turned red with anger.I was supposed to stay in my hometown in Longshang, warming up by the brazier with my wife in my arms, but because I offended the captain, I was kicked to this ghost place to guard for a year, which made me fall into such a situation.Damn, staying in this meadow with these wild dogs, the balls are almost freezing.

"Dog!" He grabbed the rein of the hunting dog violently, pulled it to the footprints, and shouted: "Smell, dog, this is the trace of the Tubo people, smell it quickly, if you can't smell it again, I will kill you." Eat your flesh!"

But no matter how much Liu Gao roared and waved his whip, the dogs still couldn't smell the trace, they just growled loudly at him.

"Okay, okay!" Acton on the side couldn't stand it any longer. As a Mohe man, he was told since he was a child that dogs are hunters' companions, not to mention whipping, or even cursing, let alone I ate dog meat.He stepped forward and snatched the rein from Liu Gao's hand: "Forget it if you can't find it, the hoof prints are gone here, the Tibetans must have gone to the meadow!"

"Meadow? How is that possible?" Liu Gao looked at Acton with a sneer. He didn't like the cronies of the new governor: "Don't look at the plains here. In fact, there are bottomless swamps everywhere. We will never be able to get out again! If the Tubo people really go in, then we will save trouble!"

"No!" Tuyanmang said loudly, "I know there is a road inside, and I can pass through this meadow safely!"

"Shut up!" Liu Gao shouted: "You wild woman, it's not your turn to speak here. In my opinion, this is a trap. There are no Tubo people at all. The destruction of your village is just a good show that you directed and acted on yourself. , the purpose is to lead us into the swamp to drown. Isn't it?"

"I didn't lie, you saw it in the village too, so how could it be a lie!" The Qiang girl's eyes were already filled with tears, and she felt her chest was about to explode. How could this Tang people use this as an excuse for herself? lie!
"Okay, stop talking!" Acton stopped the two of them, and he walked to Wang Pu's side: "What do you think should be done now?"

"We were ordered by the governor to chase after these Tubo people, but the footprints disappeared here, and the dogs smelled like this! And the weather!" Wang Pu had a stuffy nose, and his hands were stuck in his armpits. : "In my opinion, let's go back, we don't need to work so hard for these Qiang people!"

"If we go back empty-handed like this, what will the governor think?" Acton said in a low voice: "Don't forget, we are Yaqiandu, and we are the face of the governor. We will bow our heads in the future!"

"That's true!" Wang Pu nodded, "Then what do you mean?"

"You take the big team here to find a shelter from the wind and camp here. I'll take twenty Mohe people and two horses to look for it again. Our hometown is also very cold, so we can endure it. Besides, it's easy to advance and retreat if there are fewer people!"

"Alright! It's just thanks to you!" Wang Pu whispered.

"Compared to being in the village, this is not too hard!" Acton smiled: "But you must tighten up the old camp here!"

"Yeah!" Wang Pu nodded, and the two embraced each other with open arms, and then went to prepare separately.At this time, Tuyanmangjiebo ran over and said to Acton, "I know why the hounds don't smell the footprints anymore!"

"Oh? Why?" Acton asked with interest.

"I heard from an old man in the village that the Tibetans have domesticated a mastiff dog that is so fierce that even wild wolves can't beat it, let alone hunting dogs. If they smell it, they will avoid it from a distance. If the Tibetans If you smear mastiff feces on your own footprints, the hounds will run away in fear!"

"Oh? There is such a thing?" Acton laughed in surprise: "So we are not wrong, and these footprints belong to the Tibetans?"

"Well, there is only one way to pass in this meadow. The Tibetans will definitely take that way. They have many prisoners with them. They must not go fast. We will definitely catch up!"

Acton looked at the Qiang girl with great interest. Judging by Tang people's standards, she was not beautiful, but anger brought a kind of vigorous and wild beauty to her face.

"Can you ride a horse?"

"Yes, I can ride a horse at the age of eight!" Tuyan Mang Jiebo replied.

"Very good, I'll give you a horse, and you lead us the way!" Acton said with a smile, "But we only have [-] people in total, and I'm afraid there won't be any extra people to protect you by then!"

"Give me a knife, I don't need other people's protection!" Tu Yanmang Jiebo's face flushed red.

"Give her a knife, bow and arrow!" Acton laughed, "I hope you are as capable as you said!"

Before the snow fell, Acton's group set off immediately. They waded across the small river. The river was freezing cold, and thin ice had condensed on the bank. It was desolate and cold, and the ground under his feet became softer and softer. Many times, the horse's hoof would sink when it fell, and when the horse's hoof broke free from the mud, it made a faint squawking sound.A Mohe soldier approached Acton and said in a low voice: "Boss, I think Liu Gao is right. Tibetans will not come to such a ghostly place!"

Acton didn't speak, but looked ahead, the air was humid and heavy, there were shallow pools everywhere, and Tuyanmang knotted waves were at the front, he carefully chose his way, stepping on the few dry and hard areas in this meadow , The diffuse mist covers the mountains in the distance, like ghosts.Did I fall into the trap of that Qiang girl, or was this Qiang girl dazzled by the years of revenge?He hesitated for a moment, hit the whip, and was about to go up and talk to the girl.

"There is a corpse!" The exclamation broke the silence.Actun jumped off his horse and ran over, only to see an almost naked male corpse in the meadow, Tuyan Mangjiebo was standing beside the corpse, his face pale.

"It hasn't rotted yet!" Acton turned the corpse over, his face was pale, his wide eyes were facing the sky, and his neck was cut off: "It should be a day or two!"

"It's from our tribe! The Tubo people are in front!" Like a lunatic, the Qiang girl remounted her horse and walked forward.Acton followed up helplessly. Sure enough, as Tuyan Mangjiebo said, the various footprints and hoofprints became more obvious and dense. Obviously, the Tibetans should not be far away from them.

"Take a rest first!" Acton held the reins of the Qiang girl: "Get off the horse and rest for a while, eat something!"

"No, I'm not tired, I can still go!" Tu Yanmang said anxiously.

"Maybe you are not tired, but the horse is already tired. Walking on this kind of wet and soft mud consumes a lot of horsepower!" Acton said: "We have horses, and the Tibetans can't run away. Let's eat and rest first." , it is good to fight!"

Tuyanmangjiebo stared at Acton angrily, but finally she gave in.Everyone got off their horses one after another, put the horse food bags on the mouths of the mounts, and let them eat their fill.And they themselves sat in a circle, built a fire, and shared pounded jerky and soybean flour, dry cakes baked with flour, and fresh water mixed with wine.

"Tuyanmangjiebo, do you know anything about the Tubo people? I mean what are the characteristics of their warfare, cavalry, infantry, bows and arrows?"

"I heard from the elders that the Tubo people are not afraid of death in war. Their cavalry is actually mediocre, because their horses are poor, and they don't run fast. They just have good stamina. But their soldiers are very strong and have great stamina. Well, you can wear full-body iron armor and fight for a long time without resting!"

"What about bows and arrows? Do they have crossbows?" Acton asked.

"Bows and arrows are average, but their catapults are very good, even if they have not many crossbows, they are definitely not as good as you Tang people!"

"Well! If this is the case, it is a strong enemy!" Acton nodded: "What do you think should be done?"

"If the horse is not good, then the cavalry don't have to be afraid. If the bow and crossbow are not good, then you can shoot arrows closer!"

"That's right, use a heavy bow and arrow, and shoot in the face or in the ribs ten steps forward and backward! No matter how fearful you are of death, I don't believe that you can still fight with an arrow in the face!"

"That's right, we can be divided into two wings, or divided into two teams, the front and the rear, intermingled left and right, and help each other forward and backward! No matter how thick the armor is, there is nothing to be afraid of!"

"However, you can't fight in a place full of swamps, you have to choose a flat and hard field!" After thinking about it, Acton said, "Tuyanmangjiebo, how far do we have to go before there is no swamp?"

"It's not far away!" Tuyanmangjiebo said hurriedly, "A further three or four miles will lead to the plains, where our tribe often grazes sheep!"

"That's good! Let's rest for another half an hour, and then go on the road!"

Tuyanmangjiebo didn't lie, and within a short distance, Actun's group realized that the ground had become hard. They quickened their pace, and there were more corpses on the side of the road. Tuyanmangjiebo looked at the roadside. The corpse bit its lips subconsciously.

The camp of the Tubo people is located under a mound, on the top of the mound there are dozens of huge raised black rocks, arranged in a huge circle. It is said that in the distant ancient times, a certain great king tried to build a temple here to worship the gods. temple.It's a pity that time has destroyed the former glory of this place, leaving only these stones, like the skeleton of a dead giant.

Awang stared at the fire in front of him, he was a hundred households.Like most peoples who have just entered civilized society, the military organization of the Tibetans is integrated with their social organization, that is, all adult men in the society are part of the army, nobles are officers, civilians are soldiers, and slaves are slaves, and each tribe has its own army.However, after Songtsan Gampo unified Tubo, he established a military system more suitable for the kingdom, which divided the territory under his jurisdiction into five wings, each wing had ten thousand households, each thousand households had hundreds of households, and hundreds of households had hundreds of households. Ten households, arranged in decimal.Each wing has Ruben (the length of the wing, meaning the leader of the wing), and a thousand households have Dongben (the head of a thousand households).

The operation went smoothly this time. The Qianghu tribe who were attacked were defeated before they had time to resist. They robbed a lot of property, but the most important thing was their lives.The emerging Tubo Empire fought north and south, fighting almost every year, and the young and middle-aged men suffered a lot. If there were not enough servants, no matter how much land they occupied, no one would cultivate and graze them. What would be the use?

The screams and obscene laughter pulled Awang back from his thoughts to reality, and he frowned. Of course, he knew that war was a very hard job, and the soldiers had to vent properly so that they could fight better.But the problem is that these captives will be the property of Ruben and Dongben. If I bring back too few captives this trip, or if all of them are injured, then the superiors will be dissatisfied with me.Thinking of this, he decided to get up and yell twice, lest some bastards go too far.

"Pay attention to me! I have to hurry tomorrow, so let's rest!" Awang said loudly.

The voice subsided immediately, Awang nodded in satisfaction, and sat down again, this is enough, too harsh is not good!Thinking of this, he nodded secretly.

The shrill screams sounded again, this time Ngawang was enraged, someone dared to ignore his order, he made up his mind to hang this bastard up and whip him twenty lashes.

"Attack! It's the enemy!"

The screams made Awang wake up immediately. It was not that his subordinates were torturing the prisoners for fun, but that there were attackers. It didn't matter who the attackers were. There were too many enemies in this wilderness.

"Put on your armor, put on your armor, don't panic, move closer to me! The fire in the middle moves closer!" Awang's voice was very loud, and he immediately suppressed the chaos. In order to let his subordinates see Shangguan clearly, he even raised a torch Swinging overhead, this drew a long arrow, which pierced his right chest, nearly pinning him to the ground.

(End of this chapter)