At the northern foot of the Yinshan Mountains, three fine horses galloped away in a cloud of dust.
The fine horse and the beautiful lady, graceful and elegant, instantly passed through the green grass and galloped to the end of the sight.
As you gaze, only the graceful figure is left, accompanied by the faint fragrance, lingering for a long time.
The three of them headed east, and that direction was exactly the direction of Gubeikou.
These three were Qian Muran and his two companions who were ordered to go to Shangjing to support Zhu Li.
The horses were galloping, but the three ladies on them were in different moods; Wenlan and Yangguang had bitter faces, and their minds were full of finding a place to eat as soon as possible so that they could have a good meal. They were really hungry now.
As for Qian Muran, she was still sulking, and the reason, of course, was because of Wenlan and Yangguang.
Before leaving the border, Qian Muran asked Wenlan and Yangguang to go and pack their luggage; it was nothing more than some dry food, drinking water and the like. You know, once you reach the grassland, food and drinking water are generally hard to find.
But these two girls, relying on the gold they had, ate and drank to their heart's content, and then each of them brought back a braised chicken to report.
Two braised chickens were not enough for three people. Before they even got close to Guizhou, the three of them were already starving.
Countless felt tents suddenly appeared on the distant horizon, which surprised the three people.
Obviously, it was a tribe, the Di people outside the Great Wall.
The appearance of a tribe means there are people, and where there are people, there must be food. For three people who have been hungry all the way, is there anything that would make them happier than this
When they entered the tribe, the three men were somewhat dumbfounded. Everywhere they looked, they saw half-naked, fierce and barbaric Di people. It was obvious at a glance that this was an ignorant and backward tribe, very primitive.
The name of the tribe is Yuewu tribe, which is a tribe of the Shiwei people.
Perhaps it was because this tribe was close to Guizhou, and Han people with black hair and black eyes were not uncommon to the tribesmen, so Qian Muran and the other two entering the tribe did not cause any waves.
The tribe is very backward, but they are very rich, as can be seen from the sight of cattle and sheep everywhere.
As soon as they entered the tribe and looked at the living cattle and sheep everywhere, the three men couldn't help swallowing. There was nothing they could do as they were too hungry.
When they saw the cattle and sheep, they thought of beef tendons, roasted lamb legs, etc. The three people with green eyes almost rushed forward and immediately caught a lamb to roast.
Perhaps it was their drooling expressions and their green eyes like hungry wolves that aroused the herdsmen's vigilance.
A fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy from Shiwei came over with a wary look on his face, looking at them as if they were guarding against thieves, with a very unfriendly expression.
"Hey, what do you want to do? Why are you always staring at my lamb?" The young man had a fierce look on his face, and he tried to open his eyes wide, staring at the three people fiercely.
Their fantasies were finally interrupted by the young man's shout, and the three of them reluctantly looked away.
Without waiting for Qian Muran to speak, Wen Lan couldn't wait to say to the young man, "We are passing by here and our dry food has just run out. I want to come to your place to buy some food. Is that convenient?"
"Buying food?" The young man looked puzzled and muttered, "Are you trying to exchange my lamb?"
"Yes, yes." Hearing that the boy understood what they meant, Yangguang nodded his head like a chicken pecking at rice, and then said generously: "We have gold, just name your price, we plan to buy a lamb to roast."
Although Yangguang spoke in a heroic tone, as if he was a fat sheep waiting for you to slaughter him, the young man from Shiwei did not buy it and said impatiently, "I will only exchange my lamb for the horse, the girl, and the sword and bow, nothing else."
Before he finished speaking, the young man's eyes inevitably fell on Wenlan and Yangguang, and occasionally he glanced at the horses behind the three of them; the meaning was very clear, these two girls and the horses behind the three of them were exactly the targets he wanted to exchange.
In any case, Wenlan and Yangguang were both very beautiful girls, naive, cute, and a little silly. Although they had not grown up yet, they were much prettier than most of the girls in their tribe, and the boy was obviously attracted to them.
As for Qian Muran, she had unkempt hair and a long snotty nose. She looked so unkempt that even the young man from this primitive tribe didn't want to even look at her.
"Why not sell it? We have gold. Gold, do you understand?" Wenlan was anxious. There were people who only recognized horses, swords and bows, and beautiful girls, but not gold. This was obviously beyond her understanding.
"Yes, Jinzi, do you understand?"
"With gold, you can buy many fine horses, swords and bows. With gold, many beautiful girls will flock to you. Don't you want it?" Yangguang quickly chimed in and explained eagerly to the Shiwei boy.
But no matter how much the two sisters talked, the young man from Shiwei remained unmoved.
"Don't lie to me. My mother said that my lamb is to be exchanged for horses, girls, swords and bows, and nothing else. What's so great about gold? Can it be eaten, can it be used for hunting, can it be used to give birth to children?" The young man retorted with a serious face.
The other party's retort left Wenlan and Yangguang dumbfounded.
However, when Wenlan and Yangguang were speechless, the young man from Shiwei was perhaps moved by their pitiful expressions and said seriously: "If you want my lambs, you can ask your Alang or Aniang to come. I can give them ten lambs and replace you two."
"Uh" the boy's words instantly confused Wenlan and Yangguang. Wenlan immediately asked, "Why can't we change it ourselves?"
"No, Senior Sister." Yangguang seemed to sense that the Shiwei boy's words were not right, and quickly corrected Wenlan, "You want to exchange us for your broken sheep? This girl is worth nearly fifty taels of gold, and so is my Senior Sister."
"Fifty taels of gold, do you know how much that is? Even if you count all your lambs, they are still not worth that much." Yangguang's face flushed red, and she tried hard to show that they, the sisters, were wealthy ladies worth hundreds of taels of gold.
But the two of them still didn't realize that after going around in circles, they still got themselves into trouble.
Qian Muran, who was standing on the side and frowning, could not bear to listen any longer and immediately said to the Shiwei boy, "Well, these two sisters of mine are not the girls from your tribe who can be exchanged for just a few lambs."
"Even if you take out a priceless treasure, you can't exchange them for it; since you don't want to sell your lambs, let's go somewhere else." Before he finished speaking, Qian Muran pulled Wenlan and Yangguang up and continued to go deep into the tribe, hoping that Yi could find a herdsman who was a little smarter so that they could buy food.
However, the people of this tribe obviously dumbfounded them. Apart from bartering, they did not recognize gold or silver.
No matter how good the gold is, it is useless here. The three of them were completely desperate. They even thought that they were dreaming and had not yet woken up from the dream.
Among the three, Wenlan and Yangguang suffered the greatest blow; since they got the gold, the two of them straightened up, and no matter where they went, they always acted like they were rich girls with gold, and no one dared to underestimate them.
But today, even if they gave all their gold to the herdsmen here, they were reluctant to sell them a bowl of milk tea, which directly hit them as if they had arrived in another dimension.
Just as they were feeling dejected and were about to continue their journey on an empty stomach, when they arrived in Guizhou and were buying food, another group of people from the Yuewu tribe came. These people were none other than the Khitans.
The leader was an old man, as strong as a lion or tiger, with shaved hair and a fierce look, about fifty or sixty years old; behind him followed four Khitan teenagers, all of them were sixteen or seventeen years old, full of vigor and high spirits.
The old man in the lead had just entered the Yuewu tribe when he saw the chief of the Yuewu tribe, an equally majestic and wild old man, who greeted him with a big smile on his face: "Haha, Puguzhi, I haven't seen you for many years. I am still so majestic and powerful, my old friend. I am very happy."
Upon hearing this, the Khitan elder also laughed out loud and said, "Haha, Nera, my old friend, you are such a fool. You are such a fool!
When the two elders met, they gave each other a big hug and patted each other on the back before they separated.
The chieftain of Yuewu, Nera, asked the old Khitan man, Puguzhi, "How come you have time today to come and sit with me, old man?"
Pu Gu was not bothered by what he said, and said cheerfully: "Six days later, Shangjing will hold a grand ceremony to collect firewood, and will select the strongest warriors from all tribes. So, I, an old man, will bring my four grandchildren to join in the fun."
Hearing this, Nera frowned and asked in surprise, "A grand event to collect firewood, a ceremony to commemorate the emperor?"
"Are you Khitan going to get a new leader? It hasn't even been three years."
"Haha, old friend, you don't know..."
As they talked, the two old men walked arm in arm and headed straight for the tent of the chief of the Yuewu tribe.
At the outskirts of the Yuewu tribe, only four Khitan teenagers were left, leading dozens of Khitan warriors and guarding the gate.
Obviously, they had no intention of entering the tribe; it seemed that the old Khitan man Puguzhi just came by to see his old friend Nera and did not intend to stay here for too long.
Qian Muran, along with Wenlan and Yangguang, also came to the periphery at this time and ran into the four Khitan teenagers head-on.
One of the tall and strong boys saw them at a glance, his eyes lit up immediately, and he said to his companions: "Look, these are Han girls, and two cute little princesses."
Following the man's voice, the four Khitan teenagers immediately looked over. Their eyes obviously ignored Qian Muran and looked directly at Wenlan and Yangguang.
"I heard that the final warrior of this event will marry a Han Chinese girl." The thinnest Khitan boy looked at Wenlan and Yangguang and spoke thoughtfully.
"I know this. That lady is the sister of Heshuo General Zhu Li, and her name is Zhu Ning'er." Another tall and strong young man took over the conversation and spoke proudly.
... ...
As the saying goes, the speaker may not mean it, but the listener may take it seriously.
Qian Muran and the other two went to Shangjing to support Zhu Li; and Zhu Li went deep into Shangjing just to rescue Zhu Ning'er, right
The four Khitan teenagers, as if no one was around, talked about Wenlan and Yangguang, and occasionally, they mentioned Zhu Ning'er, which immediately perked up Qian Muran.