Chapter 197 The Mystery of Horse Bandits
Chapter 197 The Mystery of Horse Bandits
Cao Taiyue brought the shopkeeper to Xiao Xia's room. It was already night and Xiao Xia had just woken up from a deep sleep. The side effects of the overdose of medicine made him sleep for a whole day.
Xiao Xia's mind gradually became clear, the state of emptiness in his heart finally disappeared, and he returned to normal.
Looking at the uneasy innkeeper, Xiao Xia asked with a smile: "Are those merchants who were robbed by the bandits still here?"
The innkeeper shook his head. "They all went into the county town. They don't think it's safe here with me."
"Where did they meet the horse bandits?"
"About thirty miles to the south of us, there is a canyon called Pipa Valley. You should have passed by it when you came here."
Xiao Xia remembered that they passed through a canyon when they came here, but the canyon was very wide, more than ten miles wide. If there were not mountains on both sides, they would not be able to tell that it was a canyon.
"But we came here safely and without any trouble. We never encountered any bandits. How could they have encountered one?"
The shopkeeper sighed and said, "The horse bandits here have been wiped out by Chief Xue. The horse bandits they encountered were from the Qilian Gang in Zhangye County. Someone recognized them. Because it was about to snow, everyone was in a hurry to travel. This group of merchants did not stay overnight in the county town and walked directly south at night, thinking that the horse bandits had been wiped out and they were safe. Unexpectedly, they were ambushed by the horse bandits coming south from Zhangye."
Xiao Xia was puzzled and asked, "This place belongs to Lanzhou, right? How could the horse bandits from Zhangye come here? Can they pass through the Hexi Corridor checkpoint ahead?"
"My lord, you don't know that I have been the innkeeper for twenty years and have encountered this kind of thing countless times. These horse bandits always pass through the border in several groups and then gather together. Once they rob a caravan, they disguise themselves as merchants and drive the robbed camel caravans north. As long as they pay the toll, the guarding troops will not care and let them pass through the border and go north. It has been like this for the past twenty years."
"The horse bandits are called the Qilian Gang. How many people are there?"
"I heard there were several hundred of them, all of them were ruthless bandits. Rumor has it that they were all Qiang people from Tuyuhun. The merchants yesterday were Sogdians from Zhangye. They handed over their goods and money honestly, so they were not killed. If they were Han people, they would have been beheaded long ago."
"Does the shopkeeper think that this gang of horse bandits has already returned to Zhangye?"
"They must have gone back. They must leave overnight, otherwise the government will send someone to notify the checkpoints and they won't be able to pass through."
Xiao Xia asked about the weather conditions again before ordering his men to pack up and set off north overnight.
At noon the next day, Xiao Xia and his men arrived at the Wushaoling Pass, which is the only way to enter the Hexi Corridor. Wushaoling stretches from north to south like a huge barrier, separating the Hexi area from the Central Plains dynasty.
There is only an extremely long valley passage across Wushaoling, which is about tens of miles long. The Sui Dynasty built a pass outside the gorge in the north, called Xiakou City, where three hundred soldiers were stationed. Merchants traveling from the south to the north had to pass through the military city.
The military city was under very strict control during a state of war, with strict inspections. Passes would be checked, goods would be inspected for contraband, and the origin and destination of the people would be questioned.
But under normal circumstances, the management of the military city is very lax. They will just check the goods or look at the passes. If you pay the pass privately and you are a local businessman, you can basically pass through without any obstruction and there will be no inspection or questioning.
Xiao Xia and his party had a pass issued by the Ministry of War, so the soldiers naturally did not dare to ask any questions and let them pass. However, Xiao Xia was not in a hurry to leave. He asked the captain guarding the gate, "Excuse me, where is General Xue?"
General Xue was the famous general Xue Shixiong of the Sui Dynasty. He served as the general of Liangzhou, which was in charge of Wuwei County, Zhangye County and Dunhuang County, and commanded an army of 20,000.
Xue Shixiong's two sons, Xue Wanjun and Xue Wanche, were also famous generals in the late Sui and early Tang dynasties. Xue Wanjun also participated in the military examination and ranked seventh in the total score. He was awarded the title of military Jinshi and served as the General of Cavalry in the Liangzhou General Administration. He set out one day earlier than Xiao Xia and arrived in Liangzhou three days ago.
The captain scratched his head and said, "If there are no special circumstances, the chief steward should be in Guzang County!"
Xiao Xia was appointed as the military commander of Zhangye, and his immediate superior was Xue Shixiong. He had to report to Xue Shixiong and apply for the military power of Zhangye from him. To be precise, Xiao Xia only had half of the imperial tiger talisman, and only when it was combined with the half of the imperial tiger talisman in Xue Shixiong's hand would Xue Shixiong give him the army. Why is it possible? Because the military commander is usually appointed by the general manager, or recommended by the general manager and then appointed by the court. In other words, Xiao Xia did not get the approval of Xue Shixiong. If Xue Shixiong did not agree with him being appointed as the military commander of Zhangye, he could also transfer Xiao Xia to another position.
Therefore, the letter of appointment that Xiao Xia received as the Military Commander of Zhangye was actually just a letter of recommendation. The Ministry of War recommended Xiao Xia to be the Military Commander of Zhangye, and he was actually appointed by Xue Shixiong.
Xiao Xia led his men and rushed towards Guzang County
At noon the next day, Xiao Xia led his men into Guzang County. Compared with the prosperous cities in the Central Plains, Guzang County was much more deserted, mainly because of its small population. The entire county had only 30,000 people, most of whom were Hexi Hu people. There were very few Han people, and even if there were any, they were mainly exiled prisoners, merchants, and military dependents.
The agricultural areas are also mainly concentrated on both sides of the Guzang River outside the city, consisting of civilian fields and military fields. Of course, most of them are military fields.
Xiao Xia found the Liangzhou General Administration Office in the north of the city, and was received by Li Datong, a military officer of the General Administration Office.
Li Datong apologized, "General Xiao may have to wait for two days. Manager Xue went to Dadouba Valley yesterday and will not be back for a few days."
Xiao Xia hesitated for a moment and said, "It's okay to wait for two days. I'm just worried that a snowstorm will come and we'll be trapped on the road."
"That's true. It's November now and we just had a little snow a while ago. The blizzard came as soon as it happened."
Li Datong thought for a moment and said, "How about this! I'll send a guide to take the general to the Dadoubagu military camp. Maybe General Xue is there?"
Xiao Xia readily agreed, but he asked again, "It's going to snow heavily, why did the steward go to Dadouba Valley?"
Li Datong smiled bitterly and said, "Someone discovered the Qilian Gang horse bandits in Zhangye. The second son, General Wan Che, did not tell the general manager, so he secretly led two hundred cavalrymen to pursue them. The general manager was worried, so he brought another thousand people to support them. They just left yesterday."
Xiao Xia immediately understood that the horse bandits they were talking about should be the group of horse bandits that rushed back from Huining County.
"I understand. Please ask Li Canjun to arrange a guide. I will set off now!"
Li Datong immediately found a guide and took Xiao Xia and his party to the Dadouba Valley in the southwest direction.
At midnight the next day, Xiao Xia and his party arrived at the Dadou Military City outside the Dadouba Valley. It was ten miles away from the Dadouba Valley, located on a high ground, and had a garrison of about three hundred people.
The reason why it was far away from Dadouba Valley was that Dadouba Valley was actually controlled by the Tuyuhun army. If the distance was too close, conflicts would easily occur.
The Dadou Military City was actually monitoring the Dadouba Valley. Once the Tuyuhun army came out, they would immediately light the beacon fire and notify Zhangye County and Guzang County.
This military city is under the jurisdiction of Zhangye Military Government, but Xiao Xia has not officially taken office yet and is not the superior of this military government for the time being.
Xiao Xia asked the town commander, but unexpectedly, neither the town commander nor other soldiers had seen the general manager Xue Shixiong. Xue Shixiong had never been there. This made Xiao Xia a little confused. Where should they find Xue Shixiong now?
After a night's rest, there was still no news from Xue Shixiong. Xiao Xia became a little impatient and decided to go to Dadouba Valley to take a look in person.
At daybreak, he led twenty men and guides to the Dadouba Valley, ten miles away.
(End of this chapter)