The Jagged Cavalry of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 437 Chapter 436 West Wind (3)

After several days of trekking, Ma Chao, Wang Shuang, Yang Fu and others finally arrived in Zhangye County.

The yellow sand was blown by the west wind, and the air was filled with endless desolation. The hills on the vast land were undulating, and the wind and sand filled the sky. The skulls of giant beasts were quietly half-hidden in the soil, and the breath of death permeated everywhere.

The farther west you go, the more desolate and desolate it becomes. People walk west along the Silk Road. On the way, they often meet merchants on this road. They are all nervous and follow the merchants. Beside the caravan are hired sabermen one by one, responsible for protecting the safety of the caravan.

Among these huge caravans, Ma Chao and others were not very conspicuous. There were only two cars and more than 20 people in total, but everyone was fully armed and ready to fight, looking very orderly.

I also met many horse thieves sporadically on the road, but none of them dared to come over to provoke Ma Chao and the others. Maybe it was because of the mighty power Ma Chao and others showed to outsiders, or the horse thieves simply didn't bother to rob Ma Chao so much. Small team.

Zhangye County is located in the west of Wuwei County and borders Wuwei County. However, the situation of the two counties is very different. The law and order in Wuwei County is relatively good. There are few horse thieves in the county, but Zhangye County is full of horse thieves. If you have never met a horse thief in the county, you are really embarrassed to say that you have been to Zhangye County.

Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, and Dunhuang are collectively called the four counties of Hexi. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Han army defeated the Huns and occupied these counties. Since then, the four counties of Hexi have become an important part of Liangzhou.

Hexi refers to the Hexi Corridor. The Hexi Corridor starts from Wushaoling in the east and ends at Guyumen Pass in the west. It is between the South Mountains (Qilian Mountains and Altun Mountains) and the North Mountains (Mazong Mountain, Heli Mountain and Longshou Mountain) in the north and south. It is about [-] kilometers long. It is a long and narrow flat land running from northwest to southeast, shaped like a corridor, and located to the west of the Yellow River, so it is called the Hexi Corridor.

The Hexi Corridor is also an important part of the Silk Road. It is an important traffic route connecting the East and the West. However, since the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Liangzhou has been in constant turmoil. The west of Wuwei is occupied by the Qiang Hu. Most Han people retreated to Hanyang County area.After the Yellow Turban was pacified, Dong Zhuo took power, and the Central Plains fell into chaos. The Hu people were numerous and powerful, but they did not dare to act rashly, so that for more than ten years, Zhangye, Jiuquan, and Dunhuang had been in the land of no one. Qiang and Hu competed with each other, but the Han people no longer had the capital to gain a foothold here.

Under such a big environment, Ma Chao is also very curious, how did Dunhuang Soxley survive in Dunhuang?
Along the way, Ma Chao asked Yang Fu about the situation of the Dunhuang Sox family, but Yang Fu knew little about it. He knew that when Wei Kang was the governor of Liangzhou, the Dunhuang Sox family had sent people to Jicheng, begging Wei Kang to dispatch The army entered Dunhuang.It's a pity that Wei Kang was killed by Han Sui before he could respond, and there was no news from Dunhuang Suoshi after that.

However, the status of Dunhuang Suoshi in the entire Liangzhou gentry is very important. Regardless of the current situation of Suoshi in Dunhuang, Ma Chao should go and see.On the one hand, it was to visit Soxhlet, and on the other hand, it was to let Ma Chao personally experience the situation in western Liangzhou, so that he could have a general understanding in his heart, so that he could use troops against Xiliang in the future.

Ma Chao and the others headed west all the way, and soon came to the territory of Liqian County. At this time, it was getting late, and everyone was exhausted for a while.

It was the first time for Ma Chao to step into Zhangye County, and he didn't know the local geography, so he turned his head and asked the soldiers behind him, "Is there a city ahead?"

The soldiers behind all shook their heads, expressing their ignorance.Like Ma Chao, they all stepped into this land for the first time, and they are full of curiosity about everything here.

At this time, Yang Fu said: "There is a city ahead, called Liqian, but..."

"Just what?" Ma Chao asked.

Yang Fu said: "It's just that Liqian people are not friendly, I'm afraid they won't let us go into the city to rest!"

"How do you know if you don't try?" Ma Chao asked.

So, everyone went to Liqian City together. When it was getting dark, Ma Chao and the others finally saw a small city standing on the vast land.However, this small city was very different from the ones he had seen, and seemed to come from a foreign land.

Ma Chao pointed to the small city ahead and asked, "Is Liqian City ahead?"

Yang Fu nodded and said, "Yes, this is the city where the Liqian people live."

"Who are Liqian people?" Ma Chao asked curiously.

Yang Fu immediately explained to Ma Chao the origin of the Liqian people, who are descendants of the Daqin people.Daqin was the name of the Roman Empire in that era.

In 53 B.C., the first year of Ganlu in the Western Han Dynasty, the Roman Expeditionary Army was besieged and wiped out in Calais. More than [-] of them escaped from the siege and returned home without a way to live in the mountains. , one part belongs to Kangju, and the other part belongs to Da Yuezhi.In the fifth year of the Yuan Dynasty in the early Western Han Dynasty, Kang Ju lent this foreign army to Zhizhi Shanyu, the Xiongnu who moved westward, to threaten neighboring countries.Later, there was civil strife in the Great Yuezhi, and the Romans who lived in the Great Yuezhi continued to move eastward, and gradually flowed into the territory of the Han Dynasty. They once fought with the Han army, and more than a hundred people were captured, but Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty released them. It built a city named Liqian.This is the origin of Liqian people...

After Ma Chao listened to Yang Fu's narration, he became very interested in Liqian people, and wanted to go to Liqian City to see what happened.

A round of cold moon hangs in the night sky, illuminating the earth with its bright light. Ma Chao led people to Liqian City, but he saw that the city was in dilapidated condition, and the city wall was made of rammed earth, some of which had been peeled off by the wind and rain for a long time. In the wall soil, you can still see the traces left by the rammed earth when the city was built, and in some places, deep cracks were washed out by the rain.

The bulletin boards on both sides of the city wall were filled with proclamations, and many of them were so old that the words were so unrecognizable due to the rain, leaving only a black blotch of ink.The other one was obviously posted only in the last two or three days. Not only was there no trace of wind and rain on the paper, but it also exuded a strong fragrance of ink.

Reflecting the moonlight, Ma Chao took a closer look, only to find that the announcement on the bulletin board turned out to be a reward order for a local horse thief, and the reward was [-] yuan.Looking at the bulletin board on the side, there is almost the same reward notice posted on the wall, but the content of the reward is different.In addition to this, there is also some information about hiring sabermen.

There are no crenels or watchtowers made of blue bricks on the city, only a wall of loess extending to the north and south.Above the city gate, there is a small pavilion-like gatehouse built of wood, standing alone on the city wall.

The gate of Liqian City was closed tightly, and there was no one on the tower, and there was not a single sound in the city, as if it was a dead city.

Ma Chao looked in through the gap in the city gate, but saw that most of the houses in the city had collapsed due to years of disrepair, and the whole city was shrouded in a layer of twilight, looking so desolate.

"Is there anyone inside?" Ma Chao yelled into the city, but his voice was like a stone sinking into the sea, without causing any ripples.

"It's actually an empty city?" Ma Chao asked suspiciously.

As soon as the words were finished, a black shadow suddenly flashed out from the city gate, stared at Ma Chao with a dark eye through the crack of the door, and asked sharply, "What are you doing?"

Ma Chao was taken aback, he calmed down a little, and then he saw the face of this man clearly through the gap in the city gate. The overall aesthetic feeling, but the dark eyes give people a chilling feeling.

"We passed by here, it's getting late, we want to stay in the city for one night, and leave early tomorrow morning, and hope this strong man can be accommodating." Ma Chao said.

The man said: "I'm sorry, Liqian City has never been open to outsiders, you should go elsewhere!"

Ma Chao suddenly took out a piece of gold from his pocket, pointed it directly in front of the man, and said, "We can pay..."

At this time, Dan saw the man's eyes light up, and his gloomy face suddenly changed. Through the crack of the door, he looked at the number of people outside. There were about 20 people. We don’t have any good places for you to rest, if you want to enter the city, you will need [-] yuan per person!”

"Two hundred dollars? Why don't you go grab it and forget about it, two hundred dollars for one night stay?" Wang Shuang couldn't help laughing, and shouted violently.

The man said: "I can't live here! There are many horse thieves in this area, and Liqian City is the only place within a radius of tens of miles that you can stay. If you can't live here, go elsewhere. We don't care about it anyway."

Liqian people are well-known in this area for being brave and good at fighting, and they often play the role of mercenaries, and they often go to catch people who offer rewards to receive rewards.In short, this is a group of races who can only fight but not farm. All the passing merchants, who passed through Liqian, did not spend money to seek asylum in the city.Even in the daytime, some caravans did not have enough sabermen, and even hired Liqian people to send them safely out of Yumen Pass and Yang Pass.

"We live! Wang Shuang, give me the money!" Ma Chao didn't say anything, he just wanted to go to the city to see how tough the Liqian people are.

Wang Shuang held back his anger, took out the money with extreme reluctance, and stuffed it through the crack of the door to the Liqian man in the city. After the Liqian man counted the money, he opened the city gate and let Ma Chao and others enter the city. .

After Ma Chao and others entered the city, the Liqian people closed the city gate again, and then took Ma Chao to an empty courtyard in the city, and said to Ma Chao: "Don't light the fire at night, remember! Otherwise, you will be driven away." Get out of town."

(End of this chapter)