Old Ma was still walking slowly at the front, but his steps were noticeably more steady than yesterday.
Song Dekui sat on his horse, a long knife at his waist, and a sheepskin scroll in his hand. He pointed to a winding ink line on it and shouted, "Xiaoyun, this line is the mountain torrent channel coming out of Shitanbao!"
Song Liyun was using a compass to determine the direction when she casually said, "Yes, the Red Stone Man said that if we follow this mountain torrent channel, we will encounter a mud pit after a day and a night. It should be not far ahead. We need to watch our step. If the ground is not frozen, we don't want to sink in."
She drew a map of the route she had taken and marked the directions with a compass, so that she could find her way by the moon and stars whenever she had a map.
As the old horse walked, it began to walk around the withered grass.
Song Liyun and her companion stopped riding horses and instead led their horses closely behind the old horse.
Song Dekui exclaimed in surprise, "Oh my god, everything here is ice!"
Beneath clumps of withered grass lay frozen ice; as horses trod upon it, the ice cracked, making a constant crunching sound.
In summer, this place should be a lush marshland, attracting many water birds, wild sheep, and wild horses.
It is also a large meal for carnivores such as wolves.
Song Liyun watched her step carefully, making sure she stepped out of the frozen ground.
While using binoculars to observe the surroundings—this was the wolves' summer hunting ground—he also had to be careful not to be ambushed by the wolves.
Suddenly, she saw smoke rising from the horizon, and in an instant the column of smoke grew larger and larger.
Song Liyun's brows furrowed suddenly, and she turned to look at Song Dekui: "Uncle Kui, if someone gets into trouble, do you think we should help them or not?"
Song Dekui poked his head out from behind, looking puzzled: "Huh? Who's in trouble? What kind of trouble?"
"I don't know, it might be the tribe we're going to... they're in trouble!"
When the red stone man gave Song Liyun directions, he also mentioned the human camps that she might encounter along the way.
Both people and livestock cannot live without water, because there is a waterway here. Although it is only used for summer flash floods, it allows the herders to find several low-lying areas where they can store water.
The tribes that came out of the Mida River Valley now stay along these waterways.
Song Liyun exchanged Lao Ma for Lao Ma, hoping that Lao Ma could find a water source and then find the tribe.
"Come on, Uncle Kui, let's go take a look quickly!"
Song Liyun slapped her horse's back, turned around, and charged toward the spot where the plume of smoke was rising.
Song Dekui said no more and followed closely behind.
When Old Horse saw that the humans who had been following him had suddenly run away, he stood there for a moment, but then immediately followed.
At this moment, Song Liyun no longer cared about the old horse. The chrysanthemum-green horse and the chestnut-red horse ran faster and faster, leaving it far behind in the blink of an eye.
The plume of smoke was still far away from them, and Song Dekui didn't see anything.
It wasn't until after a cup of tea that he noticed the faint dark gray color.
"Xiaoyun, could they be bandits? It's dangerous for us to go like this!" Song Dekui shouted.
Song Liyun carefully controlled the horse: "Let's observe from a distance first, don't get close. If it's bandits, we'll go to the military camp to report."
"Good, that's good, but we can't be reckless!" Song Dekui said, while gripping his long sword tightly.
Song Liyun had been observing the situation through binoculars when she suddenly exclaimed, "Uncle Kui, it seems like nothing's wrong with the tribe. There are cavalry coming over there... They're soldiers, the Zhenbei Army."
At this moment, Song Dekui also saw horses galloping in the distance and immediately said urgently, "Let's avoid them first."
He worried that there were bandits in the tribe, and that these soldiers might misunderstand him and his companion.
Song Liyun put away the binoculars and said calmly, "We really shouldn't rush over now. We're a caravan, so let's bring out the wagons."
Besides the large cart placed in Shitanbao, there was also a simple but sturdy flatbed cart in her space.
She took it out of her spatial storage and found a set of stacked prefabricated house materials, two sacks of grain, pots and pans, and a wool mattress for sleeping. This was the equipment her caravan used for external purposes.
Just as Song Dekui secured the cart to the chestnut saddle, the Zhenbei cavalry were already ten zhang away.
The group that came over was a team of five Zhenbei soldiers, who were easily recognizable by their red-tasseled felt hats and brown-based, white-trimmed uniforms.
Five horses surrounded Song Liyun and her nephew, shouting, "Dismount! Get out of the carriage!"
Song Dekui got out of the car properly and shouted, "We are the Wu Dynasty merchant caravan, brothers, please don't misunderstand."
"Shut up!" He had barely opened his mouth when he was met with several shouts.
Some people had already climbed onto the cart and started rummaging through the things on it, but as soon as they touched it, they saw the half-folded colorful flags of the Zhenbei Army.
“Hey, there’s a military flag here. They stole it.”
One of them started shouting and unfurled the flag.
The others gathered around to look; they were patrolling the grassland and had never seen any outsiders carrying military flags before.
Song Dekui shouted, "Hey! Brother, don't just spout nonsense. What do you mean by stealing? This was specially given to us by the garrison because they were worried that we might encounter some fools who would do something reckless."
"You dare talk back? You want to die?!"
The person standing next to Song Dekui became enraged when he started shouting again. He kicked Song Dekui in the waist, cursing and trying to hit him, but Song Liyun stopped him.
"Sir, you've misunderstood. Let us explain before you take action."
At this moment, Song Liyun was wearing a rabbit fur snow hat that covered half of her face, and a fur robe made of khaki cotton, so that it was impossible to tell whether she was male or female.
Upon hearing her clear female voice, the soldier suddenly realized what was going on. He reached out and grabbed the snow hat from her head, saying in a lewd tone, "Oh ho! There's a female here too. You two aren't a pair of lovers who eloped, are you? Let me see what you look like."
Before Song Dekui could react, Song Liyun's eyes turned cold, and just as the soldier reached out his hand, she had already slipped behind him.
At the same time, he placed a large sword against the soldier's neck and said coldly, "The discipline of the Zhenbei Army: those who harass women will be punished with thirty strokes of the cane and expelled from the army. Those who rape women will be executed!"
I suspect you are not from the Zhenbei Army, but rather spies disguised as bandits.
As soon as she said this, several soldiers drew their swords and pointed them at Song Liyun: "You dare to rebel! Let her go!"
Song Dekui's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets: A spy! He's faking it!
He reacted instantly and ran to Song Liyun's side, taking out his own longsword and placing it at the soldier's waist: "You all step back. If you say another word, I'll cut him down with one stroke."
With two long swords pressed against his throat and waist, the soldier, who had just been talking and causing trouble, turned ashen-faced and gritted his teeth, not daring to utter a sound.
The scene was somewhat bizarre, with the Song family uncle and nephew each holding a soldier hostage with a long military knife.
Outside, four soldiers with knives blocked off all four directions.
Suddenly, you looked at me, I looked at you, and we were locked in a stalemate.
A few breaths passed in the blink of an eye, and everyone could tell that something was wrong.
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