On Qingtang City.
Zuo Siluo saw a huge caravan in the distance.
This caravan probably has more than 3,000 people, and there are more than 10,000 camels and horses alone.
Densely packed livestock walked on the road, as if there was no end in sight.
Zuo Siluo has been running Qingtang for more than ten years, so he is naturally very clear about the general size of the caravans coming and going.
Merchants from the Western Regions usually consist of only two to three hundred people, and at most seven to eight hundred people. A caravan with four to five hundred people is already a very large one.
The Hexi Corridor had more people, but large-scale caravans only had about a thousand people and three to four thousand camels. It was rare for there to be more than three thousand people with tens of thousands of camels and horses.
After all, such a team would incur huge expenses along the way, and it would be difficult to support the supply of so many people and livestock along the way. At the same time, there was no force in the entire Western Regions that was strong enough to support such a large caravan.
Especially in Henan Province, due to the long distance, there are usually many small-scale caravans, with the smallest number being dozens, the largest being hundreds, and the largest number being thousands.
As recorded in "Book of Zhou: Biography of Tuyuhun", a Tuyuhun delegation sent envoys to Northern Qi, but was ambushed by Western Wei.
"We captured their chief minister Qifu Chuban, general Zhai Panmi, 240 Shang Hu people, 600 camels and mules, and tens of thousands of colorful silks."
At that time, the team took the Tuyuhun Road, which is a direct example of the scale of the Hehuang Corridor caravan, including 240 merchants and 600 camels and mules.
Therefore, the sudden appearance of a team of more than 3,000 people in the distance was obviously a strange thing.
But there are exceptions.
That is, if the caravan happens to meet other familiar groups on the road, and the leaders know each other, they may be able to travel together.
However, this situation was extremely rare, so Zuo Silu was still alert and said to a general beside him: "Go, send someone to intercept them and question them."
"yes."
The general personally led hundreds of knights out of the north gate and headed out of the city.
The caravan in the distance was actually the people sent by Li Yuanhao to impersonate them.
Li Yuanhao first sent small groups of merchants to sneak into the city, and then sent a team disguised as big merchants to set off.
He was in charge of the Hexi Corridor, so he naturally knew the scale of the caravans.
But he was betting that Zuo Siluo was not alert. After all, if too few people were sent, the effect of internal and external cooperation would not be achieved. This was also a helpless move.
Now that he saw Zuo Siluo sending people out to intercept him, he probably knew he could no longer hide it.
It’s not that their disguise is not good enough, but since they can be sent out to intercept and question, they must be elite scout knights.
The job of a scout is to observe the enemy's situation. Both sides are soldiers fighting on the battlefield. A scout with a sharp eye can see at a glance whether the person is a businessman.
So the possibility of concealing it is very small.
Li Yuanhao remained calm until the scouts sent by Zuo Silu approached him, then he shouted at them, "Where are you from?"
Almost instantly, when these scouts saw the caravan, they quickly realized that something was wrong.
These people don't have the temperament of traveling merchants who have been wandering around for years. Although they all wear scarves and neck wraps, eyes are the windows to the soul, and this cannot be deceived.
Their eyes were all extremely fierce. If it were just one or two of them, it would be normal, but if all of them were like this, it could only prove one thing - they were not businessmen.
"stop!"
The leading general shouted sternly, then subconsciously reached for the horn at his waist.
Since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Qiang and Di peoples in the northwest have been adept at using horns as a communication tool. It was introduced to the Central Plains during the Qin and Han Dynasties, and was widely used in military warfare during the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms Period.
But almost at the moment he reached for the horn at his waist, a crossbow arrow shot out and pierced his chest directly.
“Puff!”
The general covered his chest, looked at each other in disbelief, and then fell off his horse.
This sudden change immediately shocked the scouts.
Both sides attacked almost at the same time, but Li Yuanhao's team quickly took over, and the scouts were killed in less than a few minutes.
"Woooo ...
The desolate sound of a horn resounded through the sky first. It was the horn of the Western Xia army.
The large Western Xia army hidden in the rear, numbering tens of thousands, swept towards Qingtang like a dark tide, and the dust raised from the rear seemed to cover the sky and the earth.
Zuo Siluo on the city wall had a gloomy face, but he responded calmly and quickly ordered the city gates to be closed. Although his scouts outside the city could not get in, they could escape to other places from the left and right.
This can be considered as sacrificing the small to protect the big.
Then he ordered the war drums to be beaten on the city walls, mobilized the troops, transported ammunition to the city walls, and prepared to fire the cannons.
"The Xia thieves are coming, everyone move."
"Hurry, hurry, hurry."
"Don't dawdle, move the things up quickly."
The North City was instantly in chaos.
There was also unrest in the city.
A large number of merchants rushed to escape from the South Gate.
But the city gates began to close, the streets were crowded with people, and chaos was everywhere.
Zuo Siluo no longer cared about the city, he just wanted to guard the city gate.
However, just as he was about to fire cannons at the approaching Xixia people, a large number of merchants armed with swords appeared near the city gate behind him.
They reacted quickly, rushed to the city gate, and killed people everywhere, catching the Qingtang soldiers who were tense and focused only on the outside of the city off guard.
"not good!"
Zuo Silu was horrified and ran to the top of the city gate to look down. Seeing that the enemy had already controlled the city gate, he shouted, "Come on, follow me and kill them."
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