Li Hong felt that he seemed to have found the right direction. By checking the money houses, could he find out who was smuggling the contraband?
He stroked his chin and thought involuntarily, no matter what, smuggling is a lot of money, there must be a reason for this money, right? It can't be that he really produces and sells it himself, and then uses other products to make up for the deficit, right?
If that's the case, these things would be really hard to check. If other people's money doesn't go into the bank or goes through the accounts, there's no way to check it.
Even items like soap and soap are now popular commodities in the Tang Dynasty, especially in the south, and have always been in high demand and priceless.
Quan Yi is becoming more and more shameless now. He has become extremely shameless since he came to the Western Regions for training.
Look, he started squatting on Li Hong's doorstep again, grinning foolishly.
"Don't even think about it. It's impossible." How could Li Hong not know what he was here for?
How can he poach people from his own side? If he poaches all the elite soldiers and generals, how can he teach them a lesson in the future?
Quan Yi didn't quite believe in the combat effectiveness of Li Hong's personal guards at first, but since one time, Li Hong asked him to lead a thousand men and he led the personal guards, and the two had a simulated encounter battle deep in the desert, Quan Yi was completely convinced.
...
...
So they poached the captain of the Imperial Guard by force, on the grounds that it was too dangerous to disguise himself as a bandit.
Otherwise, Li Hong would not have thought of taking Wei Tuqi for himself after seeing him.
Wei Tuqi is indeed a piece of unpolished jade. With a little polish, he will surely become a great man in the future.
But don't forget that Li Hong has been reincarnated nine times and ten times, and once followed the God of War Bai Qi on the battlefield.
During the Battle of Changping, the strategic decisive battle between Qin and Zhao, he followed Bai Qi and killed more than 400,000 Zhao soldiers together with Bai Qi.
But in the end, his fate was the same as Bai Qi's. He was executed together with Bai Qi at Duyou Pavilion, also known as Xiaoli Pavilion.
At that time, he was a general beside Bai Qi: the second grandson of Sima Cuo, a famous general and guest official of Qin State. The sixth generation ancestor of historian Sima Qian: Sima Jin.
"For the last time, Grand Protector, you know the quality of the soldiers under my command. Recently, they have been overshadowed by the lawless people. If you don't care anymore, I will..." Quan Yi squatted at the door, like a beggar.
"If one soldier is cowardly, all the generals are cowardly. I have told you this eight hundred times. If your men lose to the lawless again, you can expect to be dismissed by me."
As soon as Li Hong finished speaking, a shadow appeared in front of him, and Quan Yi had disappeared without a trace.
Turning his attention back to the Central Plains, Li Hong rested his chin on his hand and pondered for a long time, but still couldn't figure it out.
But no matter what, he made up his mind to send an order to Bai Chun first, asking her to start from the bank and slowly investigate to see if she could find out anything.
Early the next morning, Quan Yi had just assembled his team at the door and was preparing to set out into the depths of the desert to practice their second profession as thieves when they heard the sound of horse hooves behind them.
Li Hong led 200 guards and hurried over. Seeing Quan Yi's astonished look, Li Hong glanced at him and said calmly, "I'll go with you and stretch my muscles."
"Yes, Grand Protector." Quan Yi's face showed excitement.
At the city gate, a little head popped out from the gate. After observing for a while, and confirming that the man on the horse was Li Hong, he jumped out of the gate.
"Where are you going?" An Xiaohe looked up at the army in front of him slowly leaving, and asked the person on the horse called "Liangtiao".
"Let's go rob." Li Hong looked at An Xiaohe, who had a beautiful smile, and said, pretending to be a thief.
"Take me with you." An Xiaohe said expectantly.
"No, it will take more than a day or two for us to come back. You should go play with Xiaoxue and Xiazhi." Li Hong was very attracted to An Xiaohe, especially her tall figure and beautiful face.
But for some reason, when facing An Xiaohe, Bai Chun's shadow always pops up in my mind unconsciously.
Although their temperaments are completely different: Bai Chun is like the snow lotus on that mountain, indifferent and even apathetic, so indifferent that she doesn't even care about the world.
An Xiaohe is like an elf who has fallen into the mortal world, revealing a sense of agility and lightness everywhere, just like the flying petals, bringing joy to people.
One is like the Nine Heavens Mysterious Lady about to fly away with the wind, and the other is like an earthly elf just entering the mortal world. Two completely different beauties.
An Xiaohe pouted, as if she already knew the answer would be like this.
Looking at the figure walking away, she put her hand on her red lips and shouted, "Remember to bring me a gift."
Li Hong waved his hand in annoyance, which An Xiaohe thought meant he understood.
In fact, what Li Hong meant was: Go wherever it’s cooler.
Mangzhong and Huameng were guarding Li Hong on both sides of his horse not far in front of him, and on his left and right were Banmei and Xunlan.
The two women were also wearing thieves' clothes, with leather-like armor underneath. In the desert, such attire was suitable for high-speed charging.
The two girls smiled and turned back to wave to An Xiaohe, signaling her to go back quickly.
Just as they turned their heads and looked forward, they suddenly heard a burst of hurried horse hooves sounds coming from behind them.
Listening to the sound of horse hooves, it didn't sound like the hooves of many war horses, but rather the sound of a single horse's hooves coming at a very fast speed.
"Master, could it be that An Xiaohe insisted on coming along?" Banmei asked suspiciously.
Li Hong shook his head helplessly: "It can't be his, it's that pervert."
Without looking back, listening to the sound of horse hooves, Li Hong had already guessed that he didn't find the pervert when he left the city, and now he was probably chased out after being informed by Xia Zhi.
"My God, it's really Bai Qi." Banmei said excitedly.
Xunlan also looked back, and her pretty face was immediately filled with surprise. She opened her mouth wide, unable to believe what was happening before her eyes.
"When did Bai Qi learn to ride a horse?" Xunlan asked in a low voice, not knowing who she was asking.
As far as she could see, she saw a wolf sitting upright on the back of a horse, with its body covered in shiny black fur. Because the horse was galloping, the fur was blown backwards by the wind, and the whole wolf looked very majestic and domineering.
Bai Qi stood with his front paws erect and his hind legs bent, sitting on the horse's back with a saddle on it. He had a serious look on his face, his eyes staring straight ahead, and was hurrying towards Li Hong against the wind.
The horse under Bai Qi's butt seemed to have become accustomed to being a wolf's mount. It was galloping steadily and hard, cooperating well with the wolf on its back, giving people a feeling that the wolf and the horse were one.
Li Hong had become accustomed to all this and was too lazy to even look at it. Once, out of fear that it would get tired, he found a brave horse and let it sit on it to rest.
Unexpectedly, since then, this guy has liked this way of traveling. Whenever he leaves the city, he will bite the reins and lead the horse out from the stable, then jump onto the horse's back and sit there, waiting to set off.
Going west along the Peacock River, this place is not far from the official road to Khotan in the south, and it is not deep in the desert, but just along the edge of the desert.
The Peacock River is crooked. Now that there is not much vegetation, looking down from the high sand dunes, it looks like a jade belt wrapping around the edge of the sand sea and rushing down.
The tough nature has created a strong vitality, but when faced with excessive logging and destruction by humans, it still reveals its fragile and vulnerable side.
The information from Jingzhe and Liebao was also delivered to the banks of the Peacock River in a timely manner. The Tibetan merchants did not move into Loulan City, but chose to set up camp near the Peacock River.
Holding a topographic map in hand, more than 2,000 people were resting in a shaded area on the bank of the Peacock River.
Bai Qi had already disappeared long ago, so he had to find game for himself.
Occasionally, when he was in a good mood, he would bring back some game for his owner, Li Hong.
But don't think it is so filial. It just wants Li Hong to help it grill some meat. To put it simply, eating cooked meat is more like eating raw meat like humans, occasionally enjoying the freshness.
"Grand Protector, I have looked at the topographic map and it is safest to take action before reaching Khotan. However, it will also expose us most easily, and we will be criticized by Lu Dongzan." Quan Yi analyzed seriously.
"They are probably around 1,300 people. Together with the people who came after the Yumen Pass meeting, the total number should be around 2,300 to 2,400 people, which is equivalent to the number of seven or eight caravans."
Li Hong analyzed the intelligence and found that this time Tubo obviously wanted to use a large number of people to ensure that the goods were intact, or to exchange less losses for most of the goods to be sent to Tubo.
"Grand Protector, I feel that the Tubo caravan is mobilizing so many troops this time because they are hiding some unspeakable secret. You see, they are obviously much more cautious this time. They did not even stop at Yumen Pass, but ran out after a short rest. And when they arrived in Loulan, they did not even enter the city. Why is that?" Quan Yi took a look at the information in Li Hong's hand. The Tibetan caravan's style of behavior this time was very different from before.
"This is easy. First, there must be something in the cargo that Yumen Pass has not found. Second, maybe Lu Dongzan planned this himself. Just look at the places they chose to rest. It seems that they all chose places that are easy for us to attack, but each place is also the most likely place for us to be exposed and the most suitable terrain for them to counterattack. It is both offensive and defensive..."
Li Hong looked at the resting places along the way and studied the terrain of each place. The camel caravan was very cautious and each place was carefully selected.
Every place seemed to be a bait deliberately left for himself, making him mistakenly believe that it would be easy to eat it, but once he put it in his mouth, he might be fooled by the old guy and be caught by the old guy in one fell swoop.
"What should we do? We can't just follow them all the way, right? After we pass Yutian, if we want to eat again, we will have to fight a tough battle." Quan Yi thought it over and said.
"Then let's fight a tough battle and eat him up before Yutian. Since there are too many people, the risk is greater than eating him up after passing Yutian. Order everyone to rest for half an incense stick before setting off and traveling overnight." Li Hong looked at the topographic map and made a bold decision.
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