The convoy heading north was moving along the open area of ​​the river valley on the east side of Haoya River. Yan Xing and his team were covered in dust and dust. Finally, on the seventh day, they arrived in Lingju County. The former fortress, Lingjusai, was in sight.

The reason why it is called "Lingju" is because it was once a place where the Qiang (Zero) Qiang lived. After the former Han counterattacked the Xiongnu and obtained the Hexi land, a Great Wall parallel to the corridor was built in the north of the Hexi Corridor to defend against the Xiongnu in the north of the desert and isolate the Qianghu. The starting point of this Great Wall was the famous "Lingjusai". Huo Cavalry led tens of thousands of cavalry out of Longxi to expel the Xiongnu, which used Lingjusai as a forward stronghold. This can be said to be the earliest military fortress in Hexi, and the Qiang-guarding Captain of the dynasty was once stationed here.

As spring goes and autumn comes, the situation reverses, and the light of the Han Empire in the past gradually fades away. After being destroyed in the war, Jusai never stood up again. The scene of a strong bow and crossbow guarding the key places no longer reappears, and only the sparse grass on the side wall is still swaying and struggling in the wind.

Looking at the collapsed fortress and the unformed side walls eroded by the north wind, Yan Xing and his party had no time to hang up the past and hurt the present, and felt a little emotional. Yan Li's people had already joined the Qiang people's guide who had been waiting on the frontier for a long time. Next, under the guidance of the Qiang people's guide, the convoy hurried out of Lingju Pass, and along the Qilian Mountains, turning to the foothills trail to the west.

Looking up at the majestic Qilian Mountains, the foothills are red and green, and the hillsides are covered with grass, trees and mountains. On the hillside are gradually sparsely covered with snow all year round and rarely visited. Thinking of the former Han Dynasty's recovery of Hexi, the Huns' horses passed by this place and looked at the majestic Qilian Mountains, covering their faces and crying, lamenting that "losing my Qilian Mountains will prevent my livestock from surviving; losing my Yanzhi Mountains will make my wife have no color", Yan Xing's heart is stirred again. Looking northward, he saw the dangers of desert grasslands everywhere, with strange-shaped bare rocks and sand dunes standing in a row, and he couldn't help feeling sympathy. The former Han land has now become a horse ranch for the Hu people.

The convoy's team took a long walk on the winding path between the foothills, and walked for more than ten miles. After turning a corner, it suddenly became wide open, like an alluvial plain at the foothills. Baigouju, a place where the Qiang people traded, was a small settlement located here.

The day before leaving the frontier, Yan Xing had already quietly connected with the people sent back to report the news a few days ago with Gan Ling and his gang who had left the convoy. It turned out that after receiving Yan Xing's order, Gan Ling and others walked out of the convoy day and night before leaving the convoy, searching around and inquiring, and found the white dogs gathered nearby and ambushed nearby.

Just the day after they arrived, a Qiang tribe also came to the White Dog Gathering. According to their observation, the number of the other party was between 300. Judging from the totem of the tribe, it was a Shaodang Qiang branch.

Yan Xing, who received the general information of the other party, began to have corresponding plans in his mind. He asked the cavalry sent by Gan Ling to report back to send an order, and asked Gan Ling to lead his men and horses to quietly lurk in the woods behind the white dog gather, so as not to alarm the Qiang people.

Because the transaction was large and the place for the transaction was placed on the open land outside the settlement. Yan Feng, who was sent by Yan Li to join the Qiang people, surrounded by several Qiang people with spears and knives and hair and left-sided lapels, walked towards Yan Li and said something secretly. Yan Li, who had a weird expression, left only two confidants to direct the people to transport and hand over the goods, and then hurriedly followed Yan Feng into the white dog gathering with other confidants.

Yan Xing calmly took all the actions of his third uncle and others. After weighing the pros and cons, he decided to sit and watch the changes, and then turned his attention to the transactions on the market.

Unexpectedly, the Qiang people pulled out less than thirty horses, and then several horses were pulled out intermittently. In the end, the movement became smaller and smaller. On the contrary, they kept urging Yan Li's confidants to unload the goods on the car and trade in stiff Chinese.

Obviously, there is something wrong with the transaction.

Although Yan Xing did not carefully count the value of goods on the convoy, it is estimated that it would cost millions of dollars based on previous transactions.

After all, the transaction between the Qiang people and the Han people has always been that the Qiang people are in a weak position. There is basically nothing in the Qiang tribe. There is a great demand for the Han people's grain and cloth and handicrafts. The Han people are good at market business and often buy Qiang people's horses and furs at the lowest price, and sell their grain and cloth at high prices. One transaction will make a profit of several times or even dozens of times. If the Qiang people sincerely want this batch of goods, based on the average price of a horse of 20,000 yuan, they will at least bring a hundred horses to trade.

However, the number of horses in front of him was far from enough, and they were not good horses. Yan Xing once heard horse merchants traveling to and from the north that Hu people suffered too much in trade with the Han people, and also learned the tricks of the Han people. For example, horses were inferior to good ones, and Han merchants also had a lot of losses. But now the Qiang people don’t even use these tricks, and they want to exchange for bulk goods with just a small number of horses. Could it be that these Qiang people intend to make a one-time deal with their own people?

Or maybe, his third uncle wants these Qiang people, what agreement did they reach? These Qiang talents look fearless?

Thinking of the mystery that might be implicit in this transaction, Yan Xing became more and more anxious, and he could not see the specific situation of the White Dog Gathering. He could only stare at the Qiang people on the field with his eyes. He held the knife on his waist and put it on again and again. He seemed to be affected by the owner's emotions. He uneasyly used his front hooves to dig up the sand on the ground.

The transaction had already begun, and Yan Xing waited for a while immediately. Seeing that his third uncle had not come out for a long time, his face finally changed color and could no longer wait. He waved to a entourage and whispered in his ear: "Go and contact Aling and others as soon as possible, follow my orders and act according to the opportunity!"

After receiving the order, the entourage quickly rode his horse away. Looking at the entourage's leaving figure, Yan Xing turned around and ordered another entourage to call the horse Lin from the convoy.

In order to prevent mistakes in the battle with the Qiang people, in addition to selecting young and strong transportation from the clan, they also arranged guards of the army. Ma Lin is the Yan family's army. He has a rough and righteous personality and is extremely powerful, so he can win the favor in the convoy. More importantly, he is not Yan Li's confidant, which determines that once Yan Xing wants to seize the command of the convoy from Yan Li, Ma Lin is a leverage that he can rely on at a critical moment.

Ma Lin came quickly. A burly man over seven feet tall and dark-skinned man, without riding a horse, walked over with a ring-headed knife around his waist.

"Shaojun, are you asking me for something?"

Yan Xing got off the horse in advance, nodded quietly, and pulled Ma Lin to the side, but what he said exploded in Ma Lin's ear like a bolt from the blue.

"Alin, my uncle has not returned yet, and the Qiang people who traded on the field have abnormal behavior. I plan to take a few people to see you. You will take over the convoy!"

"This - Young Master!" Ma Lin was obviously frightened by Yan Xing's words. Although he looked rough, it did not mean that he was only brave. How could such a serious order be accepted casually? He was about to ask the reason. Yan Xing had already said: "You see, the number of horses used by the Qiang people to trade in this battle is far from enough, and his uncle was inexplicably taken to the gathering by these Qiang people and has not returned yet. Do you still remember that when Yan Feng, who was in contact with the Qiang people, came, there were several Qiang people holding spears and swords following him. It seemed that the guards were actually hostage. Isn't these suspicious?"

"Uh--" Ma Lin was speechless for a while after Yan Xing said this.

Sometimes, when a few things are brought up by someone with a heart and then connected, it is easy to make people fall into a hesitant situation.

Seeing that Ma Lin was already showing signs of being told, Yan Xing struck while the iron was hot and continued, "It is urgent to follow the power. To prevent accidents, we must act immediately!" Speaking of this, looking at Ma Lin, who had turned his black face into a big blush because of nervousness, Yan Xing grinned and patted his shoulder and smiled, "Ma Dabing in the past is also afraid now, you don't have to worry too much. You are always in the convoy. You are the one who can take great responsibility. I will leave ten riders to help you. When I pick up my uncle back, this matter will be safe."

After Yan Xing slapped his shoulders like this, Ma Lin felt as if the burden of the convoy had fallen on him, heavy and mixed feelings in his heart. However, if the situation was as Yan Xing said, it was obviously not the time to shirk it, so he gritted his teeth and simply agreed to his promise.

Seeing that Ma Lin had obeyed Ying Nuo, Yan Xing said a few words in a row. Once some things are concessions, he would have to take sides immediately. He continued to add instructions: "If you take over the convoy, you will delay the transaction on the spot and secretly direct everyone to be on guard. You must pay attention to three points."

"Shaojun, please speak, Lin Ding should obey!" Ma Lin's tone gradually became firmer.

"First, there are weapons, arrow clusters and other items in the traded goods. These weapons must not be handed over to the Qiang people; secondly, all bows, arrows and spears in the convoy will be distributed to everyone, and everyone must work together: Finally, use the car as a barrier, backed by trees, form a circular array, and connect them with ropes. Except for the horses you ride, no other livestock and debris must be stored in the car!"

At the end, Yan Xing's tone became heavier and Ma Lin quickly agreed and remembered it carefully and did not dare to neglect it.

If you don't have to doubt people, you will not doubt people. Since you have chosen Ma Lin, you will continue to order what you should order. Yan Xing did not say anything more and asked Ma Lin to start immediately. He quickly got on the horse, took the spear handed over by his entourage, and whistled with the remaining twenty cavalry, galloped towards the gathering gate.

There were nearly a hundred Qiang people present to trade and transport goods. When they saw a Han people suddenly circling behind them, they started to shout suspiciously. The two close friends left by Yan Li were confused when facing this situation, but they were afraid that the Qiang people who were making noise would ruin the lord's affairs, so they hurried to the middle of the Qiang people to comfort themselves with kind words, and the other one followed them on a horse.

There were more than a dozen Qiang people guarding the gate. Seeing Han people galloping on horseback, although the situation was unknown, they still set up spears to stop the cavalry. Yan Xing took the lead and saw the Qiang people blocking it, but he did not slow down and rushed over directly. He saw the spear tip approaching, shouted loudly, and immediately swung the spear out of an arc, with great force, swinging the spear to both sides, and rushed into the cavalry first. Following his twenty cavalrymen with the crack of Yan Xing, they all showed their skills and broke in one after another, knocking the unlucky Qiang people to the ground and couldn't get up.

After rushing into the gathering, Yan Xing looked around and saw several rows of dilapidated houses. Some could no longer see the structure of the houses, and they were completely ruins. There were also many Qiang people in the gathering of Baigou. Some of them were taking care of horses, some were cleaning up the soil and rocks, and were alarmed by the Han people who rushed in suddenly, and some Qiang people had already questioned.

Seeing the slack appearance of the Qiang people in Ju'ei, Yan Xing was sure that his third uncle must have given these Qiang people some promises or benefits, so such a strange situation happened.
Chapter completed!