The imperial envoys walked in the middle, and the front and back were elite soldiers from the left avant-garde. Fang Jie opened the curtain of the carriage and looked outside, the more he looked, the more restless he felt. There was a shortage of horses in the Sui Dynasty, and there were only a few cavalry troops among the soldiers of the guards. But the 4,000 troops that Luo Yao brought to Anlai County were pure cavalry, and there were even 500 heavy cavalry.
The combat power of the heavy armored cavalry is astonishing, and the cost is equally astonishing, and the requirements for knights and horses are very high. What war horses need is a good breed that can run with a weight of two hundred and thirty to forty catties, because heavy cavalry are all burly and sturdy men, and none of them weighs less than one hundred and fifty catties, and with that heavy chain armor, Coupled with the horse lance and horizontal knife in the hands of the heavy cavalry, plus the full armor of the war horse, the total will not be less than two hundred and thirty to forty catties.
Fang Jie was from a frontier army, and he knew that the real elite soldiers were not soldiers but frontier soldiers. Although the warriors claimed to be the most effective army in the Sui Dynasty, most of them had not experienced war for more than 20 years. After the extermination of the Shang Dynasty, the soldiers had changed. No matter how hard the training was on weekdays, they still lacked some ruthless killing intent after all without the experience of blood.
The frontier army is different. The frontier army not only has to guard, but also is responsible for cleaning up the horse thieves and bandits on the border. There are large and small battles almost every year. No matter how sharp the horizontal knife has never been stained with blood, it cannot be regarded as a killing weapon after all.
Precisely because Fang Jie was from a frontier army, he knew how to tell whether an army was capable of fighting. The cavalry under Luo Yao's command could tell at a glance that they had been in battle for a long time. They still maintained a high level of vigilance as they marched forward, and the formation was not scattered in the slightest.
Careful observation reveals that every team can tell the difference, and even if they encounter a sudden attack, they can respond quickly.
And what caught Fang Xie's attention the most was naturally the 500 heavy armored cavalry. Fang Jie had been in Fan Gu for three years, but he had only heard that Li Yuanshan, the right guard, had a heavy armored cavalry, but he had never seen it before. There is also a heavy armor in the imperial city of the imperial capital. Fang Xie has seen it but is sure that those soldiers who look majestic and mighty have never killed anyone. The heavy armor in the Taiji Palace is more of a spectacle, and it may not be able to exert its invincible power if it is really pulled to the frontier battlefield.
So this is the first time that Fang Jie has seen heavy armored cavalry that can go into battle to kill the enemy in a real sense. This kind of pride is what interests Fang Jie the most.
The heavy armored cavalry is like a full-powered armored vehicle on the battlefield. Once it is in an attack formation and the speed is raised, almost no team can defend it.
Luo Yao's left front guard is not only the largest in number among the Sixteen Guards, but also in the forefront in terms of combat power. The Sixth Army of the Son of Heaven claims to be the strongest among the soldiers, but if it is really a desperate confrontation, the Sixth Army of the Son of Heaven may not necessarily have the upper hand.
No wonder the emperor is so scrupulous about Luo Yao!
Fang Jie sighed in his heart, with such a great general and such an army, no one would be at ease as an emperor.
But now the imperial court has nothing to do with Luo Yao. It's not that the military department never thought of transferring Luo Yao away from the southwest, but it's obviously unreasonable to mobilize a guard without a war. After the imperial court discovered that Luo Yao's left front guard had reached an astonishing strength, it would be even more difficult to mobilize them. No one can guarantee whether the transfer order will anger Luo Yao, thus forcing the general to embark on the road of confrontation with the imperial court.
And once Luo Yao rebelled, the harm would be far greater than Li Yuanshan's self-reliance in the northwest.
As the army marched all the way, Fang Jie kept thinking about what kind of troubles he would encounter during his trip to Yongzhou. Judging from Luo Yao's current attitude, Fang Jie has no doubt that this loyal general may raise the flag of rebellion at any time.
What Fang Jie is looking forward to most now is that Luo Yao must be honest during his time in Yongzhou.
If Luo Yao turned against him, he had only three ways to go.
First, submit to Luo Yao and rebel with him, you can live. But although Fang Jie was shocked by the strength in Luo Yao's hands, he didn't think he could succeed. After all, the strength in the hands of the emperor was still much greater than Luo Yao's. Fighting the whole country with one corner has little chance of winning. Second, flee back to Chang'an immediately, if possible. Third, nine out of ten were caught and executed by Luo Yao's men on the way.
But to make Fang Jie feel at ease, there is no incentive for Luo Yao to immediately rebel. Luo Yao pretended not to know about the fiasco in the Northwest, so it can be seen that this matter was not enough to make him feel that the opportunity had come. Otherwise, he will not pretend not to know, but will use it.
He has been thinking about this, while Shen Qingfan and Mu Xiaoyao in the other carriage have been tangling whether Luo Yao is the same person from back then.
Mu Xiaoyao rubbed her temples, carefully recalling what happened when that person walked into the mountain gate seventeen years ago.
"If there must be one of us who knows the identity of that person... Who is the most likely?"
Shen Qing fan asked.
Mu Xiaoyao pointed to her nose: "Big Dog and I."
Shen Qingfan hummed and said: "But you are sure that you don't know the identity of that person, so... the big dog is now the most likely person to know his identity."
"Big dog..."
Mu Xiaoyao was silent for a while and suddenly remembered something: "The big dog has been sloppy and down-and-out all these years, but he always maintains a special habit... Even if he is too hungry, he doesn't want to cook by himself, even if the clothes on his body are already dirty. He doesn’t want to do the laundry himself if it doesn’t have the original color. Every time I mention it, he’ll mutter something like a gentleman stays away from the kitchen, how can he look like a gentleman?”
"Gentlemen..."
Shen Qingfan repeated it in a murmur, thought for a while and said: "This is a common problem of those from rich families. They always feel that cooking and washing clothes by themselves is an unbearable and vulgar thing. If the big dog is from a famous family, there is Such a habit is nothing."
"besides… "
Mu Xiaoyao looked up at Shen Qingfan and said, "Da Quan said that that person gave him his name. Before we knew Da Quan, it meant that he and that person were already acquainted. Fang Jie asked Da Quan what he had. The relatives were threatened by that person, and Da Quan said that he had a younger brother... Da Quan also said that his brother's cultivation was far higher than his. In this case, why didn't that person let his younger brother protect Fang Jie, but let Da Quan Come?"
"In order to let his brother survive, what agreement did Big Dog have with that person!"
Shen Qingfan's eyes lit up.
"no… "
Her face changed slightly: "Big Dog used to be by Fang Xie's side and did everything he could, so Fang Jie had a lot of trust in him. But if there is really an agreement between Big Dog and that person, and that person is really Luo Yao , then after arriving here, the big dog may not be the same big dog as before! Fang Xie asked the big dog and Qilin to lead people to support in secret, this is a loophole, we must remind Fang Xie."
"Will not… "
Mu Xiaoyao said: "Big Dog will definitely not do anything to offend Fang Jie. If he did, he wouldn't burn everything with me on Fang Jie's fifteenth birthday."
"That's in Fangu, this is Yongzhou."
Shen Qingfan stopped the carriage, and she opened the curtain and jumped down: "Even if there is only a little doubt, you must be careful."
…
…
Anlai County.
In an inconspicuous small restaurant, Big Dog and Chaser were sitting face to face, and the table in front of them was already full of dishes, very rich. Chashang got up and poured a glass of wine for Big Dog, then raised his glass and said solemnly, "Brother, I owe you so much in the past ten years, and I'm afraid I won't have the chance to pay you back in this life. I respect you for the wine... We haven't seen each other for almost seventeen years, you... you have gray hair."
The big dog smiled and drank the wine in the glass.
"There's something I have to tell you, and then we'll talk about divorce."
Big Dog put down his wine glass and looked outside: "Why are you not worried about being recognized?"
"Everyone who knew me was killed by Luo Yao, what are you afraid of?"
Chaser replied with a smile.
"Well... what I want to say is related to your people being killed by Luo Yao a while ago."
Seeing Da Quan's solemn face, Chashang also sat up straight.
"Don't think about Fang Jie again. It's the imperial envoy sent by the imperial court to Yongzhou this time. To be honest, although I have been worried about you in my heart, I didn't plan to meet you at first. Bring disaster. But if you do anything to the imperial envoy, I must come to you."
Da Quan paused and continued: "This imperial envoy is the one I have been protecting for so many years."
"Why is Big Brother so nice to him?"
Chashang was a little surprised, and nodded after a long silence: "Since you said it, brother, I will naturally not go to trouble him again. At that time, I just had an idea and thought that this person could be used. But... Brother, you You have wandered for more than ten years because of him, don't you hate him?"
"I hated it at the beginning, but people are so strange... After being together for too long, the hatred is gone."
After catching up, he hummed: "I was still wondering why you came back suddenly."
Big Dog smiled, looked at Chaser's face and said with emotion: "It's been seventeen years since we parted. When we separated, you were still a teenager, and you didn't even dare to walk at night by yourself. After more than ten years, you have already He's a smart and capable man."
"You haven't been by my side for more than ten years, I have to learn to do everything by myself."
After catching up with Dagou, he filled up the wine again: "Brother, why don't we stay together in the future, can you come back and help me? I have been preaching in Pingshang Dao for more than ten years, and now there are hundreds of thousands of believers at least. It's not difficult to raise trouble again. Even if you don't raise trouble, relying on the wealth accumulated over the past ten years, our brothers can live in peace and stability, and you don't have to take risks to wander around."
"I was going to say it."
The big dog looked at the wine in the glass, was silent for a while and asked, "You still can't put it down?"
Chaser was startled, and asked back, "Brother, did you let go?"
Big Dog nodded: "After so many years, I have already put it down."
"I can't let go, and I never thought about letting go."
Big Dog frowned: "It's been more than twenty years. Even if you have been preaching secretly all these years, do you think you can achieve success with those foolish people and women and children? Luo Yao has been operating in the Southwest for twenty years, and his roots are deep. The Emperor of the Sui Dynasty He is not a fatuous person, and the people will not want to turn against him. If you have hundreds of thousands of troops, I will not stop you, but that is not an army, just a group of unarmed farmers! You really think they can help Did you realize your dream?"
Chashang drank the wine in his glass in one sip: "Brother, you put it down, actually I want to say that I'm happy for you. This big burden is too heavy, and it's hard to breathe. But if you put it down, I won't be able to." Let go. If we all let go, then the root will really be broken. As long as I live, I will not let go... I can listen to you, big brother, but this matter... No!"