In July in the northwest, the sun is scorching hot. At noon, the sun turns into a huge fireball hanging in the sky. The temperature on the ground is high enough to roast eggs.
Although the weather is extremely hot, there has been a constant stream of people traveling back and forth on the official road from the north of Ganzhou to Qiyun County in recent days, and the number is expected to increase.
The majority of people traveling on the official road were groups of riders dressed like knights, riding fast horses or sitting in carriages. Some traveled in groups of three or five, while others came in dozens or even hundreds, all rushing towards the direction of Qiyun County.
In addition to these knights-errant, the most crowded groups on the official roads were obviously organized teams. These teams ranged from dozens to hundreds or thousands. The long teams drove horse-drawn carriages and carried a lot of things. Everyone in the team carried weapons such as swords, bows, and spears, and they were all in high spirits, heading towards Qiyun County.
As for those martial arts figures who went to Qiyun County carrying swords and knives, there were countless of them.
Because there were too many carriages heading to Qiyun County, the official road that could originally accommodate four carriages running in parallel became a little crowded. Those riding horses or rhinoceros horses could no longer let their mounts run at full speed on the official road, and could only trot at a moderate pace towards Qiyun County.
Among the countless people heading to Qiyun County, there was a group of people walking on the official road, which was quite eye-catching.
There were probably more than two hundred people in this team, all riding on rhinoceros horses, with extraordinary momentum. Although they were all wearing tight clothes and warrior clothes, and covered with the same cloaks, this team was different from those ordinary Jianghu characters and rangers. The most obvious point was that almost everyone on the horses in this team carried a strong bow and arrow, and swords and weapons were hung on the saddles. Some even carried long weapons that were only used in the army. Looking at the riders on the horses, each of them had a steady aura, unlike ordinary people. Many of them were wearing half-body armor that was rarely worn by Jianghu people. Anyone with a little experience in Jianghu could find that more than half of these people had the cultivation level above that of warriors.
At the front of the group was an old man with a face as dark as a date and eyebrows as white as snow. On his saddle were two scary long-handled armor-piercing machetes, which carried a strong murderous aura. Beside and behind the old man were more than a dozen young men and women who could be recognized as elite masters at first glance. Each of these young men and women had gleaming eyes or high bulges in their temples. A random glance from them could give people a sense of overwhelming pressure.
Naturally, no one dared to mess with these people when they were walking on the official road. People they met along the way just looked at them and went on their own way. Some even deliberately avoided these people to avoid getting into any trouble.
Behind the old man at the front of the team, there were two women. One of them looked to be in her twenties, with a pretty face, heroic spirit, and a graceful figure. She had a unique charm. The other one looked only eighteen or nineteen years old, also more beautiful than a flower, with eyes as lively as water, and there seemed to be a hint of smile on the corners of her mouth all the time. These two women, just from their appearance, were surprisingly about 60% similar in their eyebrows, so one could guess at a glance that they were sisters.
The older woman looked at the official road in front of her with a thoughtful look in her eyes, as if she was thinking about something. The younger woman looked at the official road in front of her with great interest, her eyes sparkling, and she kept looking at the people coming and going on the official road.
"Sister, I heard that when you came to the northwest for training, you knew Yan Liqiang, the governor of Qiyun, and killed the Shatu people together?" The eighteen or nineteen-year-old woman looked at her for a while, and suddenly her eyes turned to the woman in her twenties and asked.
But after asking this question, the woman in her twenties continued to look at the official road thoughtfully, as if she hadn't heard it.
“Sister…” the young woman, who was about eighteen or nineteen years old, called out again in a loud voice.
"Ah..." The twenty-something woman suddenly reacted and turned to look at the young woman next to her, "Sister, are you calling me?"
"Well, what is sister thinking about? She is in a trance again. I found that sister often becomes absent-minded on the road and often ignores people since she came to the northwest these days!" said the girl of eighteen or nineteen with a pout. The young girl naturally didn't know that her sister came here and was often absent-minded because of the things she saw.
"I was thinking about something just now, and I didn't notice my sister calling me. I'm sorry!" The woman in her twenties laughed, "I don't know what my sister asked me just now!"
The woman in her twenties was Mo Ziye, a female disciple of the Ming Wang Sect whom Yan Liqiang met on the road when he was escorting Sun Bingchen back to the Imperial Capital. The two fought against the Shatu people together. Although they were not together for a long time, they were still friends who had fought for their lives together. Yan Liqiang also saved Mo Ziye's life. The younger woman was Mo Ziye's younger sister, Mo Ziling. Both of them were disciples of the Ming Wang Sect. Their families had a great relationship with the Ming Wang Sect. Even their grandfather was still one of the elders of the Ming Wang Sect and had a high status in the Ming Wang Sect.
The biggest reason why the Mingwang Sect sent a large number of disciples led by Elder Feng to the northwest this time was that last month, Yan Liqiang killed 50,000 elite Shatu people at Baishi Pass, and then issued an order to kill the Hu people. According to the order, no matter who can chop off the head of a Shatu or Heijie person outside Baishi Pass, he can get ten acres of grassland on the Gulang grassland outside Baishi Pass. The more people they kill, the more land and grassland they will get, and these grasslands will never be taxed.
When the order to kill the barbarians was issued, it shocked the world. Wanderers and people from all directions flocked to the area. The powerful families in the northwest also organized their own militias and rushed to the Gulang grassland to hunt down the barbarians.
According to what Ming Wangzong and his men saw along the way, the entire northwest was almost boiling. If it was before, no one would care what a ten-acre grassland on the Gulang grassland could do, but now, the entire Han Empire is eagerly looking for wool, and the value of a piece of grassland is incomparable to before. With grassland, you can graze sheep, and with sheep, you can make woolen cloth, and with woolen cloth, the white silver can be said to be endless. The grassland is simply a green gold mine.
In recent years, in order to make money, some landlords and wealthy families even used their own fertile fields to grow grass and raise sheep. Outside the Great Wall, as long as you take off the head of a foreigner, you can exchange it for ten acres of grassland. That is ten acres of fertile grassland. Ten acres. For many people, such a good thing is simply not available once in hundreds of years. Killing a hundred foreigners can get a thousand acres of grassland. Therefore, all kinds of bloody gangsters, ambitious local families, and wealthy and powerful people with far-reaching plans, all rushed to the northwest, to Qiyun County and Gulang Grassland, and a headhunting movement that had never been seen in the history of the Han Empire and the entire Silver Continent was launched vigorously.
Although the Mingwang Sect is one of the four major sects in the Han Empire, maintaining such a large sect also requires money and economic sources, and the expenses are even greater. After hearing about the killing of Hu Ling, the bigwigs of the Mingwang Sect discussed that even if Hu Ling was not killed, the disciples of the Mingwang Sect were often sent to the battlefield in the northwest to train and face life and death. This time, they might as well organize more people to come to the northwest to see if they can do something big. If they can allow the disciples of the sect to be trained on the battlefield and in fighting, and at the same time open up a steady source of income for the Mingwang Sect in the northwest, wouldn't that be the best of both worlds
It was precisely because of this that Mo Ziye and her group made this trip to the northwest. Mo Ziye and her group were only sent by the Mingwang Sect to scout out the situation and explore the way forward. They were the Mingwang Sect's vanguard troops to see if this thing was feasible. If it was feasible, the Mingwang Sect would send more masters and disciples.
…
"Sister Mo, do you know Yan Liqiang, the governor of Qiyun?" Mo Ziling asked with a blink of her eyes.
"I know him!" Mo Ziye smiled gently.
"Then I wonder what kind of person Yan Liqiang is..." Mo Ziling looked at her sister curiously, "I have heard a lot of rumors about him in the sect over the years, some of which are too exaggerated. If you say he is a master of mechanisms, I would believe it. After all, he also invented woolen cloth. I have also seen the improved spinning and weaving machines, as well as the water and fire machines, which are indeed very sophisticated. But I don't quite believe the rumors that he is also very powerful and is the best archer in the northwest. The brothers in our Mingwang Sect are not convinced. Was Yan Liqiang really that powerful when my sister met him that day?"
Mo Ziye smiled, with some reminiscence in her eyes, "When I met Yan Liqiang, he was only sixteen years old. I met him by chance on the way while escorting Sun Bingchen to Beijing..." What happened back then was a sad thing for Mo Ziye, so she didn't want to talk about it in too much detail, and just mentioned it briefly, "Although he was young at that time, he was already outstanding among his peers. I haven't seen him for these years, I'm afraid he is even more powerful. Those rumors may not be untrue! Otherwise, how could he become the governor of Qiyun at this age, and behead 50,000 elite Shatu soldiers at Baishi Pass? Such achievements are not something that ordinary people can do!"
"Sister, you're right. After hearing what you said, I really want to meet Yan Liqiang this time..." Mo Ziling said with some longing in her eyes.
Looking at the look in her sister's eyes, how could Mo Ziye, as an experienced person, not understand what that meant? This made her a little alert. A woman's fall for a man often starts with curiosity. Mo Ziye turned around and looked at the brothers and sisters behind her. They were still some distance away from her and Mo Ziling. She couldn't help but say something seemingly unintentionally, "I heard that Yan Liqiang now has a special status in the northwest and Qiyun County. Many people are optimistic about him. He is engaged to the Lu family, a big family in Qiyun County, and has some ambiguity with a lady from the Zhong family in the northwest. In the future, he may have to marry two wives at the same time. Men like this are all fickle once they have the ability..."
"Sister, when you say that, it sounds a bit like you're talking about Elder He, hehe..." Mo Ziling laughed as if she didn't understand, "Our Elder He has six mistresses..."
"Sister, don't talk nonsense..."
(End of this chapter)