Compared with the Song Dynasty, the Liao Kingdom was more vast and sparsely populated. Even near Nanjing, there were still not many towns to be seen, and official roads were intermittent. If caravans and other things wanted to rush to one place and did not want to get lost, The best way is to find a river and follow it up and down.
Not far from the official road heading west from Youzhou, there is such a fairly wide river. Today, a horse-trading caravan is slowly moving along the river. Nowadays, the three strongest powers in the world, Liao, Song and Xia, stand side by side. Although there are disputes from time to time, the trade routes are not cut off. Various exquisite goods of the Song people, such as tea, silk, porcelain, etc., horses and furs of the Liao people, and green salt of the Xia people are all imported from all over the world. The most in-demand goods in the eyes of businessmen are also the main way for many capable, visionary and ambitious businessmen to make a lot of money.
However, because the Liao and Xia countries knew that the shortcomings of the Song Dynasty were the scarcity of horses, they deliberately listed horses as prohibited items for trade with the Song Dynasty during trilateral trade. Just as the Song Dynasty also prohibited the sale of ironware and other strategic materials to these two countries. However, there is no ban on this between Liao and Xia, so many horse dealers in Liao also like to sell their horses to the west, and then exchange them for a large amount of green salt from Xixia, so that they can make a lot of money.
This team of horse dealers heading west obviously had this idea in mind. There were hundreds of horses in the team. As long as they arrived in Xixia, they would be enough to become the target of local businessmen and wealthy families. After all, even the horses of Xixia were also It can't compare to the heroic horses of Daliao.
The sky was getting dark, and with the shout from the leader in front, the team finally stopped. After a lot of work, people lit a bonfire and started preparing for the night. At the same time, there were many men who were good at raising and herding horses. The tightly tied horses were unbridled and allowed to graze and drink. After all, long-term confinement will only make horses tired and weak, so they still need to be allowed to relax.
Several horses of different sizes were swaying their heads and grazing at this time, and soon they came to the river. Some of them were drinking water on the bank, and the two smaller horses went directly into the water to scatter. Come to Huanlai.
At this moment, one of the foals that was having fun suddenly stopped and found something not far away moving towards it. Out of curiosity, it moved up to take a look. Then, it took the thing in its mouth and dragged it to the shore with difficulty.
Because it had just rained heavily before, the river was now a bit turbulent. The pony was not strong enough to drag the thing ashore. He could only take two steps forward to block the thing and continue to go down. At the same time, he said Then it chirped loudly.
When it barked, several companion horses around it were also affected, and they all neighed together. The noise made by the dozen horses was really loud, and it immediately attracted the attention of the people in the camp over there, and soon there were Two or three men ran over with swords and bows and wary faces.
In addition to the dangers of the journey, these merchants who travel far away also have to overcome various unexpected changes, such as bandits cutting the path and ferocious beasts wandering outside. This requires them to carry weapons for self-protection, such as bows, arrows, knives and guns. is a must.
At first, these people thought that the horses by the river had encountered wild animals such as tigers and wolves. It was not until they ran over that they realized that it was a pony that had found something strange in the river. After a brief discussion, a few people rushed over quickly, wading through the river water up to their waists, and soon arrived at the place where there was a river.
In front of some weird black "things".
"This... is this a person?" After carefully studying the weird thing for a long time, someone said in slight surprise. Because it was dark and the "thing" was half-sinking and half-floating in the water, they couldn't see it for a while, but now they finally made a judgment.
In fact, they can't blame them, because this man's attire is too unconventional. The black layer on his body is not sure whether it is skin or clothing. He also carries an even weirder black long tube on his back, with a tube at the mouth. It extended outwards and went straight to a mask fastened on the man's face. The mask completely covered the man's face. If he were to see him face to face, this man would look more like a ghost than a human being. .
But after careful inspection, they confirmed that this was a man who had fallen into the water, and there seemed to be several serious wounds on his body. At this time, he was completely unconscious and just hanging on for breath.
"What should I do?" someone asked, and after a few others hesitated for a while, they still suggested: "After all, it is a life. Let's take it back to the shore to see." After saying that, several people worked together and finally took it. This rather heavy and strange guy was moved ashore and brought to the camp.
At this time, other people in the camp were also paying attention to this situation. Seeing that they had rescued such a strangely dressed guy, many people felt uneasy. Some people even directly suggested: "The origin of this person is unknown, or is it... Just throw it away..."
"Isn't this good? They must be people who are in trouble while traveling. How can we not save people if we encounter them?" Some people also objected: "No one will be affected by disasters when traveling. Only by helping each other can we ensure everyone's safety." …”
The words of the man behind were more popular, so everyone finally agreed to bring the man into the camp and treat him in a tent. Under the light of the fire, everyone finally confirmed that this guy was just dressed weirdly. After peeling off the black layer of clothing that was more close-fitting than water, his body was no different from that of an ordinary person, and after that There were actually arrows that were completely embedded in the flesh on his back, shoulders, head and other places. Everyone looked at him and exclaimed in surprise. The injuries on this man's body were really serious.
It was really troublesome when he had to take off the mask that was fastened to his face. It was fastened too tightly. It took a lot of effort for everyone to take the mask off, only to reveal a face that was barely visible. The bloody young face comes. This was not a big surprise to everyone. No matter who was hit by a few arrows and soaked in the river for a long time, he was considered lucky if he survived.
At the same time, these people couldn't help but admire this man's strength. It was obvious that those arrows had shafts, but he actually broke them all with his bare hands, so that he could wear those weird clothes. Everyone present asked themselves that they would never be able to do such a cruel thing to themselves.
The next thing they had to do was to help people take out the arrows on their bodies, and after these people gave in to each other, someone suggested: "Let Huangfu do it. He is good at looking after horses, raising horses, and treating horses. Presumably the same goes for treating people.”
Others thought it made sense when they heard it, and someone immediately ran out of the tent and called a strong man with a yellow and red beard who was still outside taking care of the horses into the tent. This man was the sheep in Youzhou City before. Ma Shili and Sun Tu had some transactions
Huangfu Duan!
It turned out that Huangfu Duan knew that he would be implicated after Sun Tu caused a scene in the city that day. So he made an immediate decision at that time, quickly paid off the soldiers guarding the gate, and escaped from Nanjing. Afterwards, he stayed for a while in an inconspicuous town outside the city.
He didn't show up again until he was convinced that the government had no intention of causing trouble for him anymore. However, Huangfu Duan did not dare to return to Nanjing this time. After all, he offended too many people that day. Who knows if others would arrest him as an accomplice of the Song man? Even if he is not, it is difficult to say whether those officials will impose the crime of Tong Song on himself in order to extort money.
So after some thinking, Huangfu Duan planned to leave the place of right and wrong. And with his skills in horse-reading and the unsold white horse, he was able to form a companion with a team of horse merchants who were about to go west to the Xia Kingdom, and traveled with them.
Even though Huangfu Duan, who deliberately kept a low profile, knew that a person had been fished out of the river today, he did not go over to see what happened like the others. It wasn't until someone went out to invite him to come that he reluctantly entered the tent. After saying a few polite words to everyone, he approached the unconscious man. Before he could see the wounds on his body, his eyes had already fallen on the other person's face, and then his body suddenly trembled: "How could... It’s him!”
Although it was just a one-time relationship and the two parties didn't speak much, after all, the time apart was not long, and it was all thanks to this person that he was in the situation he was in today. Huangfu Duan naturally recognized this person's identity at a glance. That General Sun in the Chinese mission!
Sun Tu! This person who was fished out of the river by a group of horse dealers was none other than Sun Tu, who had fought hard to break through several times before, but was eventually closely pursued by Xiao Yanping. After being hit by an arrow, he jumped into the water without a trace!
This place was dozens of miles to the west from the river bank where he fell into the water, but I don't know how he was able to swim down the river with such a seriously injured body waiting to die.
Seeing Huangfu Duan's sudden change of expression, the surrounding businessmen asked curiously: "What, Huangfu, do you recognize this person?"
Huangfuduan's mind quickly changed, and after weighing the pros and cons, he immediately shook his head and said: "Of course I don't recognize it. I was just surprised that he was so seriously injured, and yet he could still survive. This man's body is really strong. The desire to survive is also much stronger than ordinary people."
Everyone was relieved. Thinking about it, everyone here was shocked when they saw this person's injuries. As Huangfu Duan, who knew some medical skills, it was reasonable for him to react like this.
"Then heal him quickly and try to remove the arrows from his body first." Someone else suggested. Huangfu Duan didn't say anything more this time. After nodding in agreement, he asked someone to get a knife and prepare to take the arrowhead for Sun Tu...
At this time, a hundred miles upstream of the river, a team of men and horses were still carefully searching and salvaging Sun Tu's whereabouts. But no matter how they searched, they still found nothing, which made Xiao Yanping frown even more: "This guy should have been hit by several arrows from me. Even if he doesn't die, he can't escape too far. How come he has never been found?"
He never imagined that Sun Tu would escape from this area with means far beyond his time...
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