Iron hooves thundered, dust flew everywhere. Before Baishiguan could see any shadow, Yan Liqiang had already seen a cloud of dust rising from a mountain pass in the distance. In the dust, nearly a thousand cavalrymen turned around the mountain pass, and rushed towards this side in a black mass...
Seeing cavalrymen rushing towards this side in the distance, without distinguishing friend from foe, Xiong Gungun, who was guarding Yan Liqiang, shouted clearly "Protect the lord..." Then the guards in front rode their horses forward, and the guards behind rode their horses to the two wings of the team, protecting Yan Liqiang in the team. The guards carrying bows had already taken the bows in their hands, and many guards took up the crossbows they carried with them and placed them horizontally on the saddles, staring closely at the team rushing in the distance, ready to meet the enemy at any time.
"The ones ahead are our own people. Don't be nervous. They are the cavalrymen guarding Baishi Pass coming to greet me..."
After hearing Yan Liqiang speak, the guards around him relaxed a little.
Looking at the group of energetic faces around him, Yan Liqiang felt an indescribable comfort and emotion in his heart. Most of the guards he brought with him were the first batch of students of the Kyudo Club. When they joined the Kyudo Club two years ago, their faces were still a little immature, but now, in just two short years, after experiencing arduous training and battles with the seven caravans of Shatu, those young faces have become mature, and their eyes have the sharpness that only veterans have.
Young, sincere, brave and fearless are the true portrayals of those faces.
The troops on the opposite side rushed directly towards this side. At first glance, their number was two or three times that of this side. However, none of the guards around him retreated just now. They all stared at the troops rushing towards them from a distance and continued to charge forward bravely. They were all real heroes!
"Gee..." Yan Liqiang was a little excited. He squeezed his legs together, and Wuyun Gaixue let out a long cry. His four hooves flew, and he passed all the guards' mounts like a black shadow and rushed to the front of the team. "My men, follow me. Let's go to Baishi Pass today. When we make achievements and recover the territory for the Han Empire, we will start from Baishi Pass and sing our songs..."
The guards at the back saw Yan Liqiang rushing to the front, and their blood boiled when they heard Yan Liqiang's words. Everyone shouted "Gee!" and clamped their legs around the horses' bellies. The team of several hundred people rushed forward amid the rumbling sound of iron hooves.
Qian Su and Lu Wenbin in the team looked at each other and rushed forward together. Both of them had worked their way up from the bottom, so riding horses was not difficult for them. Even if they could not compare with the guards around Yan Liqiang, they could still ride horses for hundreds of miles without any problem.
"The smoke of war rises from the mountains and rivers, looking north
The dragon rises and the horse neighs, the sword energy is like frost
My heart is like the boundless water of the Yellow River
Who can resist in the past 20 years
Hateful desire madly long sword
How many loyal brothers and sisters are buried in a foreign land
Why would you hesitate to die for your country
I can't help sighing and I'm speechless, tears in my eyes
The horseshoes go south and people look north
People look north, the grass is green and the yellow dust is flying
I want to defend the land and open up new frontiers
A great man wants to make all the people...
Come and congratulate... "
Amid the majestic and stirring singing, the cavalry on both sides approached rapidly.
The one who came to greet Yan Liqiang was none other than the Huwei Captain Tie Yunshan, the garrison commander of Baishishan Pass.
Tie Yunshan was a veteran general in Pingxi County and also the most senior military officer in Pingxi County below the commander-in-chief. The first time Tie Yunshan met Yan Liqiang was when the Qiyun Protectorate was established, and today was the second time he met him.
Tie Yunshan originally did not want to lead his men so far to welcome Yan Liqiang. He thought that as the commander of Baishi Pass, he only needed to wait for Yan Liqiang to arrive at Baishi Pass. However, a trusted military officer beside him advised him, "The governor is famous all over the world, young and energetic, but has little experience in leading troops. At present, among all the lieutenants and generals in the army under the Qiyun Governor's Office, you have the highest seniority. It is common sense that the more incompetent you are, the more you care about other people's opinions and evaluations. The governor is coming to Baishi Pass for inspection for the first time today. If you do not go to greet him today, the governor may think that you are arrogant and look down on him. If the governor has this view of you, then your situation in Qiyun County in the future will be very bad. Don't forget the old story of the former emperor Lu Chong beheading a general at the gate..."
Hearing what his confidant said, Tie Yunshan thought about it and felt that it made sense, so he took two groups of cavalry from Baishi Pass and went out of the pass for thirty miles to meet Yan Liqiang.
From afar, Tie Yunshan heard the song sung by the cavalry guards on Yan Liqiang's side. He watched Yan Liqiang taking the lead and leading a group of guards with high morale rushing towards him. Although the number of people on Yan Liqiang's side was small, the surging momentum of Yan Liqiang and his men when they rushed over, like a tiger or a wolf, still made Tie Yunshan's heart tremble. He suddenly remembered a sentence his master had told him that a general does not lead soldiers, but a spirit. When the spirit is there, the army is there. When the spirit disappears, the army is scattered. When the spirit is weak, the army is defeated. When the spirit is strong, the army is strong. The commander of an army is the spirit and courage. By observing the spirit of the army, you can know its fortune.
Damn it, who said that the governor had never led troops! Tie Yunshan cursed in his heart.
The distance between the two sides was less than a hundred meters, and Tie Yunshan had already slowed down with his men, and finally both sides stopped together when they were more than twenty meters apart.
"Shua..." Tie Yunshan drew out the long sword from his waist, raised it high, and said loudly, "Bai Shi Pass Guard General Tie Yunshan greets the Governor..."
Tie Yunshan gave Yan Li a forced cavalry salute on his horse. Following Tie Yunshan's action, the more than 1,000 cavalrymen behind him also choked, drew their long swords from their waists, pointed them at the sky, and shouted loudly, "Greetings, Lord Inspector!"
Thousands of long swords pointed straight to the sky in the sunlight, flashing dazzling cold light and looking extremely powerful.
Yan Liqiang's eyes swept over Tie Yunshan's gray beard, the armor on his body, and the long swords in the hands of the more than one thousand cavalrymen behind him, and he nodded secretly. Just from the uniform movements of the cavalrymen behind Tie Yunshan, Yan Liqiang knew that this was an elite force. Tie Yunshan was a good leader and was not just there to do nothing.
"Thank you for your hard work, everyone. Let's go back to Baishishan Pass!" The army likes to be quick and decisive, so Yan Liqiang didn't waste any words, not even a word of courtesy. After he finished speaking, he shook the reins and Wuyun Gaixue started running.
Seeing this, Tie Yunshan didn't say much, put away the sword in his hand, turned his horse around, and rushed towards Baishishan Pass with Yan Liqiang.
The distance of thirty miles was easy for these cavalrymen riding on rhinoceros horses, and they arrived in less than half an hour.
The group came to the mountain pass in front of them, turned the corner and entered the mountains. After running for another seven or eight miles, a majestic pass appeared in front of Yan Liqiang.
The entire Baishishan Pass is majestic and tall, blending in with the steep mountains on both sides, just like a big lock that just locks the gap between the two mountains.
Before the group reached Baishi Pass, they saw groups of Shatu caravans coming out of Baishi Pass, carrying all kinds of things.
Baishi Pass is an important checkpoint connecting Gulang Grassland and Ganzhou, and it is also the only passage for the Shatu people to enter the Han Empire. Apart from Baishi Pass, the Shatu people can only cross the mountain roads and paths in the vast mountains between Yulong Mountain and Lanzhou border to enter the Han Empire. After the "Black Wind Bandits" played by the Archery Society began to kill Shatu caravans in various parts of the northwest, slowly, the Shatu people discovered that it seemed that only the caravans that entered Ganzhou from Baishi Pass to trade at the border market of Yingwei County were relatively safe, and the chance of encountering the "terrible horse bandits" was smaller. So in the past six months, more and more Shatu caravans have entered Ganzhou from Baishi Pass, and correspondingly, the border market of Yingwei County has become more and more popular.
When the Shatu caravans saw the large number of cavalry rushing towards them, they hurriedly stopped their horses, leaned against the side of the mountain road, and waited for the team to pass before they started to move forward.
Yan Liqiang glanced at the Shatu caravans. On the horses and camels of the caravans were bulging large sacks. It was obvious that they were filled with wool. In just half a year, wool had become the most important commodity in the trade between the Shatu people and the Han Empire.
Two or three miles away from Baishishan Pass, several more cavalrymen rushed out from the pass and rushed directly towards where Yan Liqiang and Tie Yunfei were. In just a short while, those horses rushed in front of Tie Yunfei. One of the black-faced officers with small flags started shouting at Tie Yunfei on his horse before he could even see Yan Liqiang clearly.
"Sir, those sons of bitches from the Coyote Tribe have rushed to Fengbian Village to ask for wildfire again. Now many people from Fengbian Village have fled to the pass..."
(End of this chapter)