Lord of the Desert

Chapter 44
The horse's head faces west of the world.

After half a day, Hong Fan's team was far behind the caravan across the Gobi and sand dunes two or three miles away.

"The Golden Sea separates Liangzhou from Snake Marsh, and there are at least a dozen strands of sand pirates in it."

Shen Hong spat out the wind and sand that came into his mouth, wrapped the face door several layers with a scarf, and said.

"Since the Snakeman was driven out of Jinhai, the sand bandits have never moved caravans flying the flags of the three families of Jinhai in recent years, and mainly attacked the counties and towns below."

"In the past few months, Haifei didn't know what he had eaten."

As he spoke, he pulled the kerchief over his head again.

In Jinhai in late autumn and August, the sun was still hot during the day, making Shen Hong's bald hair hot.

"It is said that Liangzhou 'wears leather jackets in the morning and gauze in the afternoon', compared with Jin Haili, it is gentle."

Sun Li pulled out the auxiliary water bag and took a sip, and said to Hong Fan.

In the distance, the figures of scouts coming out from the top of the sand dunes fluctuate.

Light, dryness, strong winds...

All this did not become a problem for Hong Fan.

In his upper dantian, Sha Shijie's true essence was operating more freely than usual, as if he had entered the home court.

"You seem quite comfortable."

Hong Lie rode alongside Hong Fan, looked him up and said.

"From here, go west for half a day and then turn south, you can go directly to the hinterland of Shengzhou."

"In the past two years, Huaiyang's national business tax has been increasing. Thanks to this road, our cistanche, Gobi jade, and salt lake production can be sold all the way to the south."

Hong Fan nodded, watching the ruts of the caravan gradually being buried by the wind and sand.

By hearing and seeing, he extracted a lot of information from the inherited memory.

Although it is a remote frontier, there are several salt lake farms in the southwest of Jinhai City, producing lake salt and thenardite.

Relying on the above-mentioned "hard currency", the commerce and trade in the west of Liangzhou are extremely developed, and the Chi family is the leader based on it.

After several more hours, it was getting dark.

The hot air absorbed in the yellow sand dissipated very quickly, and all the men put on thick overalls over the leather armor.

You Shizheng (six o'clock in the evening), everyone in Zhu Yiqi arrived at the first "oasis".

The so-called oasis is actually a spring in the rock the size of a washbasin.

The water volume of the spring is enough to drink horses, and there are two sparse circles of sea buckthorn and millennium orchids outside it, showing some greenery that is better than nothing.

But it is the small piece of green in the sandy yellow sky that makes everyone very solemn.

Regardless of whether they are people or horses, they are cautious when drinking water and wiping their faces, as if they are performing a solemn religious ceremony.

"We are about forty miles out of the city now, Brother Hong Fan, this is your first time here, so you probably don't know."

Shen Hong held the water bag filled with water in one hand, tore half a pancake with the other, and sat down beside Hong Fan.

"Hundreds of miles of golden sand and vast sea, whether it's snake people, sand pirates, or us, the foundation of territory and strength lies in such a supply point!"

Hong Fan nodded when he heard the words, words like "Water is the source of life" appeared in his heart.

But Hong Lie who was sitting on the other side smiled and said, "You haven't understood yet."

"Water can keep people alive, isn't that what it means?"

Hong Fan asked.

"It's not just that."

Hong Lie violently tore off a piece of dry biscuit with his teeth, and replied vaguely.

"Only where people and horses can go can they enclose territory and control it—cattle and camels can drink water every ten days, and drink hundreds of catties at a time, but this heavy-duty animal walks too slowly to do anything. .”

"So the sand bandits and us still have to use horses in the Gobi Desert, and horses have to drink dozens of catties of water at least every two days..."

Hearing this, Hong Fan suddenly understood.

The supply points in the sand sea are similar to gas stations, which determine the scope and route of the cavalry.

"Quizheng means that although the desert has no boundaries, everyone's route is actually roughly fixed, and there are many places where cattle and camel teams can pass, but horse teams cannot?"

Hong Fan said thoughtfully.

"Brother Hong Fan is smart, that's what he means!"

Shen Hong slapped his thigh and laughed loudly.

"Flying and looting on the sea is like flying, you have to rely on horses, so you don't look at the vastness of the Golden Sea, but in fact everyone has to follow the designated route."

"And once the caravan passes the area within the reach of the horse team, the sand bandits will be beyond their reach!"

"I see……"

Hong Fan swallowed the dry food, nodded and said.

"As Shen Hong said, if Haifei wants to make a move, it can only be done in the first three days, and the highest probability will be tomorrow afternoon." At this time, Hong Ming, who was inspecting the personnel and horses, also paced to the vicinity of several people, and said.

"The size of the teams that can be supplied by different supply points is also very different; for example, in the entire southern part of Jinhai, there are only four large oases available for the army, and they are all under the control of our Dahua."

"Of course, apart from those public supply points, there are also secret ones; in this regard, the Chi family has the deepest accumulation."

As Hong Ming said, he gestured to the ten people on the other side - the latter was the brave cavalry of the Chi family, who was wearing thin leather armor and a cloak, and was also eating dry food.

Seeing Zhu Yiqi and others looking in the direction, these men also nodded their heads, expressing their honor.

"Shanghai Fei has three Hunran Realm members, at least one person leads the team every time he dispatches, and he is accompanied by five or six penetration experts, twenty or thirty."

Hong Ming noticed that Hong Fan was listening seriously, so he spoke again.

"Our fighting strength is more than twice that of theirs, so you don't have to worry too much."

Another hour passed.

Hong Fan checked the condition of the Bentley for the last time, turned around, and met the Milky Way that landed in the desert.

Before his eyes, the night curtain opened its arms and embraced all things in its arms.

This night, the felt separated the extreme cold of Jinhai, and the dream was full of unknown and adventurous taste.

On the second day, when the sky was still only twilight, the team set off again, and soon caught up with the caravan rut.

However, the direction of travel changed from due west to due north, and the environment gradually changed from desert to Gobi.

After lunch, as the possibility of conflict was approaching, Hong Fan's heart was unavoidably tense.

In the same way, Shen Hong unconsciously rubbed the handle of the horizontal knife, and Kong Hai's smock was unbuttoned and undone, undone and then put on again, as if the horse under his crotch was walking through two seasons alternately.

[They are also like this, I can't be considered cowardly...]

Hong Fan thought, and looked forward along the horse team.

Hong Lie was lying on his back on his horse, with his hands pillowed on his head, looking at the only lone cloud in the sky.

Hong Ming, who was at the front, let his horse rein, and dozed off with his head down.

【Looks like it's too early? 】

Hong Fan asked himself.

Not long after, he, Shen Hong and the others were also brought back to their senses, enjoying the jagged rocks in the Gobi Desert.

The silent walk lasted until two quarters of Shen time difference (03:30 pm).

A blare of dysprosium soared into the sky, and the sharp sound like an eagle's cry spread out for miles along the wind, reaching the ears of Hong Fan and others.

This is the signal agreed upon by the scouts.

"Brothers, come alive!"

It bloomed with a crackling sound.

Everyone followed the sound and saw that it was Hong Ming who was at the front.

"Let's follow!"

The bearded man turned his head and looked around the crowd for a moment, his eyes were streaming, where did he still have the drowsy look before?

Following the caravan rut, the horse team drove forward at half speed, and after about five or six minutes, they arrived at the scene among the low valleys.

(End of this chapter)