Chapter 0116 Turnaround
The message was delivered just before noon, and Qu Yunmie and others set out at noon.
Qu Yunmie and his 12,000 cavalrymen took the lead, and the infantry behind them ran to catch up. The distance from Tongguan to the pass of Hanzhong Basin is nearly a thousand miles. If both sides go all out, there will be about two to three days of time difference. This is already the limit of human beings. If it is faster, it will cost lives.
No one dared to disobey Qu Yunmie at this time, even if his request was too harsh. Xiao Rong also threw away most of his luggage. The Buddhist would take these things back to Chenliu Palace. Xiao Rong wore a thick riding suit and a sword. The guards helped carry his bag, which was also very small, only containing the necessary paper and pen. He didn't even bring a change of clothes.
This is what it means to travel light; even the slightest bit of weight can hold back the entire army.
Without any greeting or instructions, Qu Yunmie climbed onto the horse after everyone gathered. Xiao Rong also climbed onto a reddish horse. This horse was different from the one he usually rode, because the ones he usually rode were expensive horses with good tempers and docile personalities that were specially picked for him by others. This one had a bad temper, but was very fast.
Qu Yunmie watched Dongfang Jin counting the troops. In the middle, he turned his head to glance at Xiao Rong. Today, Xiao Rong no longer looked like a ball. His body lines were clearly visible. He was not wearing hand guards or a hat, but a shiny black fur cloak. The north wind was blowing hard, and the cloak was blown backwards. Xiao Rong raised his eyelids and happened to see Qu Yunmie looking at him.
Xiao Rong thought he was going to say something, but after a moment, Qu Yunmie turned his head back.
Xiao Rong's eyes moved downwards. After being exposed to the air for just a short while, he felt the skin on his hands had tightened. The originally young and delicate surface was now covered with tiny white lines, and the blue blood vessels became more obvious.
He is a southerner, but now he has a pair of northern hands. …
Before he could think about anything else, Qu Yunmie, who had just finished listening to Dongfang Jin's report, had already shouted to set off. Xiao Rong instantly raised his head and, like thousands of other soldiers, shook the reins vigorously and shouted, "Go!"
A good horse can travel a thousand miles a day, and the ancients judged whether a horse was top-quality by whether it could travel eight hundred miles a day. But it is difficult to verify whether this is true, because no one would let a horse run non-stop for twelve hours just to see if it can travel a thousand miles a day. By the time the horse finished running, it would probably be useless if not dead.
So this sentence is more like an adjective than a fact. If a person wants to travel 800 miles a day on horseback, he must change horses at least three times. This is just one person. If there are more people, the speed will definitely decrease.
The more people there are, the slower the march. Qu Yunmie's soldiers were already the fastest runners of the era. At the beginning, Emperor Guangjia was on the road to escape, but his migration to the south lasted for a full six months. Why? Because Emperor Guangjia couldn't bear the hardship of continuous marching. As long as the local area was safe, he would stop and rest for a while. The ministers naturally didn't dare to stop, so they urged him day and night, and finally urged him to set off again.
If the Xianbei people hadn't been chasing him, he would probably have walked for three years.
This seems too absurd. Could it be that the Xianbei people couldn't catch up in half a year? But they really didn't catch up because the situation was complicated and some people were desperately trying to protect the last monarch of the Yong Dynasty. And those people were really fearless for this idiot. ...
This was something that Qu Yunmie didn't have at the moment. He had always been protecting others, covering the retreat for his soldiers and his people. No one would protect him so fanatically. Ah, that wasn't accurate either. Some of the Zhenbei Army would do that.
This was also Qu Yunmie's idea. From his heart, he didn't really care whether the people would agree with him or not. He also didn't care about the officials outside who were hypocritical. Even his guard commander had rebelled. Between him and that villain Li Xiuheng, he chose the latter. He was not so angry. He would just kill him. He wouldn't care if he killed him.
He knew that his personality was not likable, so he never asked everyone to like him.
But he couldn't accept that those people who he thought cared about him and were loyal to him suddenly showed their cold and indifferent side towards him.
How can I describe this feeling? It's like a ragged kid living next to a candy house. The candy house is huge, sweet, and full of laughter, but he feels okay because he has a few candies in his hands that belong to him. He counts the number of candies every day, and feels at ease when he finds that not one is missing.
Now a candy fell to the ground. He hurried to pick it up, but found that the candy wrapper was torn and the sugar inside had long been eaten by insects.
Sadness, sorrow, anger, and disbelief were all there, of course, but there was also a feeling that he dared not express out loud. He looked at the other candies and began to fear that they would also become like this.
Especially... the biggest and most beautiful one in his hand, the one that he couldn't help but stare at for a long time every day. Even if he didn't taste it, just looking at it would make him feel so happy. It was his most important property, his most precious treasure. Would it also...
Qu Yunmie was sitting on a horse running at full speed, the sound of the wind in his ears drowned out all other sounds. He was running in the front, and in front of him there was nothing but wilderness, with no one around. This scene often made him feel proud and happy, but he looked back frequently today, and no matter when he looked back, Xiao Rong would purse his lips, hold the reins tightly and tidy them up, and always follow behind him.
What Xiao Rong said was true, he could really keep up.
Xiao Rong was concentrating, and he needed to use all his energy to avoid being thrown away by Qu Yunmie. He didn't even dare to move, because the horse was running too fast. If he changed his movements at this time and fell off the horse, being trampled by the horse and becoming disabled would be the least of his worries, but his secret would be discovered by this group of people.
A strong horse does not need a whip, it will automatically follow the companion leading in front. Xiao Rong has not changed his posture for a long time, and his back is very stiff. When he noticed that Qu Yunmie was looking at him, he turned his eyes away.
At about the same speed, Qu Yunmie's face was not difficult to recognize, and Xiao Rong also clearly saw his expression at the moment, a very complicated, almost suspicious expression. Xiao Rong was startled.
So much time has passed that the days when he cursed Qu Yunmie in his heart seemed like a lifetime ago. What did he curse Qu Yunmie for before?
Yes, he is stubborn, won't listen to advice, is sensitive and suspicious, values military power over culture, and is cruel and bloodthirsty.
Some of them he changed, some he pretended to have changed, and some of them he buried deep in his heart.
Xiao Rong looked at Qu Yunmie, and after Qu Yunmie looked at him, he turned his head back. They were on the road, and they didn't have time to think too much. …………
From noon to midnight, Qu Yunmie only let everyone stop once. After eating dry food and solving physiological problems, it was only half an incense stick of time before they were on the road again.
Sleep? Forget it.
Xiao Rong didn't sleep for a whole day and night, and he didn't say a word. He said that he would not hold Qu Yunmie back, so no matter what Qu Yunmie planned to do, he would just follow quietly.
After getting back on the horse, Xiao Rong finally realized something.
Therefore, this is the real King of Zhenbei.
He is also the King of Zhenbei in the official history who is criticized and praised by countless people at the same time.
Since Xiao Rong had blocked some of the crises for him, Qu Yunmie always looked calm in front of Xiao Rong. Xiao Rong would sometimes even wonder where those rumors about him being harsh on his subordinates came from, because Qu Yunmie was actually very generous to his subordinates. He gave them all the military merits, property, and positions they deserved. Although he liked to scold people, compared to withholding food and wages, scolding people was really not a big problem.
Now he understood where those rumors came from.
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