Chapter 44 Section IX

In November of the fifth year of Emperor Yincheng, the northern capital of Hanzhou. The sky is cloudy. Last night’s new snow turned Shuofangyuan into a vast expanse of whiteness. The weather is getting colder and colder. The snow that falls now will not melt throughout the winter. when.The two tribes of Qingyang and Shuobei have been confronting each other across the city wall for two months, and there has been no battle yet. The warriors of Qingyang tribe have never seen the white wolf of Shuobei, and gradually Hudulu Khan does not come to the formation. , but every day there is still a Shuobei warrior carrying a big flag and planting it in front of the north gate of the northern capital.

This marks that the war has only just begun. However, there is not much food in the northern capital. People with some property on the grassland will prepare strings of dried meat and cans of cheese in winter. Only slaves and poor herdsmen who are so poor that they don’t even have a cow will do so. Live on oats that horses eat.But now oats are also a good thing, and the Maharaja ordered the oats and dried meat to be ground, kneaded together, and made into pancakes to be distributed to all the people, whether noble or slave.The slaves were grateful, but the nobles were annoyed and disturbed.Apparently there was not enough dried meat, and while starting to slaughter the cattle and sheep that were going to be kept until next spring, they took out the oats for people to eat.But people eat the horse's food, and the horse is only hungry. The horses on the Hanzhou grassland lose weight very quickly when they are hungry, and they can be as thin as a stick in a month.Maharaja certainly didn't want to see his elite tiger and leopard riders riding skinny horses to fight the Shuobei people, it was just a last resort.

And there are still three months to go until the beginning of spring. Buhuasa rubbed his hands slowly in the cold wind. A good archer must never have a pair of stiff hands. When there is nothing to do, Buhuasa always rubs his hands, because he may shoot his bow in the next moment. .He listened to someone behind him singing an unnamed pastoral song, babbling, ancient and desolate, reminiscent of a stray wild horse walking on the vast grassland, thousands of miles long, only decayed grass in the distance. The harsh sound of metal rubbing against the whetstone was interspersed in the singing, and he turned his head and saw Muli sitting on a sheepskin cushion, with a heavy knife horizontally on his knee, and sharpened a whetstone in his hand. blade.There are six knives by his side, all of different shapes, lengths, textures and weights. There is a scimitar produced in Donglu, which is exquisitely handcrafted, like a ritual vessel; Dull, like a rock.These days, Mu Li has been sharpening his knife, and the sound of sharpening the knife resounds day and night in the northern capital city. Mu Li is sharpening his knife, looking to the northwest, sometimes silent, sometimes singing in a low voice.

Buhuala knew that Muli was waiting for someone, and he was waiting for Shuobei wolf lord Menglehuoer Uerhan. Waiting always makes people feel anxious, but Mu Li does not. His gaze towards the northwest is very calm. Sometimes he stops sharpening his knife and sits quietly, still looking at the northwest. The whole person is like a weathered man in the desert. a rock.Bu Huala didn't understand why Mu Li could be so quiet at first, when Mu Li roared at those nobles in the golden tent, he was clearly fierce like a wild beast.Later, Buhuala figured it out, probably from the day Shuobei Wolf Lord retreated to the north thirty years ago, Muli had expected that man would come back.

He waited for Meng Lehuoer for thirty years, and thirty years of waiting was enough to make people calm from anxiety. "Can we use so many knives?" Bu Huala looked at the knives in Mu Li's hand. "Chilang's bones are very hard, so there is a knife to replace it when the knife is cut." Mu Li whispered, without looking at him. "It's really not like an old man's words." Buhuasa said lightly. Mu Li gave him a cold look, but didn't speak. "I have to take a break." She smiled quietly. Beside him was a thick woolen felt, and he sat on it, relaxing with a crooked body.Buhuaza has always had such a blanket on the city wall, because in the past two months, he has slept here for countless nights, with a blanket under his body and another blanket on his body to block the wind.

Sometimes I would sleep until late at night without opening my eyes, and I would see Mu Limo sitting not far away expressionless, slowly sharpening his knife in the fine snow. But they don't talk much. Standing behind Muli are a hundred strong young men, all in simple leather armor, all with wide-mouthed scimitars, and a pair of wide feet that can walk long distances wrapped in soft deerskin.There are another 2,900 young people like this in the city, all of them are Muli's soldiers.Muli selected these young men from among the slaves, taught them how to use a knife, whipped them, taught them the rules on the battlefield, and regarded them as his brothers.Mu Li doesn't believe in nobles, he only believes in slaves. From a slave boy to the most famous warrior in Qingyang, Mu Li has probably always regarded himself as a slave in his heart.He insisted on a kind of pride unique to slaves, and treated any nobles other than the eldest lord Golel Pasur indifferently.

There are a thousand people in the northern capital, each of them wears the black felt cloak that herdsmen often wear, has a horse raised by himself from a foal, a bow made by himself and a bag of spiked arrows .Most of the time they hunted for a living, and only appeared in the northern capital city after receiving the order of the Maharaja.The 1,000 ghost bows of the Qingyang Department belong exclusively to the Pasur family's master. Anyone has to be wary of this army. A thousand good eagle hunters may not be enough to defeat a cavalry, but in On the grassland, any of them can kill a noble person a hundred paces away with a spiked arrow.The master of the Pasur family always praised his thousand ghost bows as "Qingyang's Falcon" to others with a tone of pride, and hid the threat in it.

Bu Huala knew why Mu Li seldom talked to him, because his thousand people were actually nobles.They are special hunters granted noble status by the Maharaja, and they enjoy special powers when they appear in the northern capital. Buhuara reached into the robe and fumbled, and found an old bamboo flute. It was obvious that it was a very old thing. The bamboo skin on the outside was moist after thousands of times of rubbing. The light is brownish-yellow like amber.He tried the audition and played a piece of music that few people in the northern capital had heard.The sound of the flute is low and whimpering, like cirrus clouds hanging over the prairie.

Muli's soldiers listened silently to Muli's song and the melodious sound of the flute, and found that the two tunes sounded completely different at first glance, but had exactly the same rhythm. The sound of the ground flute sank, like a grassland, and the sound of pastoral songs flew up, like a horse on the grassland. Mu Li stopped sharpening the knife, and also stopped singing.He looked down at the knife on his knee silently, silent. Buhuaca continued to play the flute, with a faint smile on his face. After a long time, Muli's soldiers heard a low humming from Muli's throat again, it was still the old shepherd's song just now, slowly merging with the sound of the flute.To the sound of the singing and the flute, Mu Li sharpened his saber on the ground, the sound of sharpening the saber was like the high-pitched war drum gradually emerging from the sound of wind, rain, and horses neighing.

In November of the fifth year of Emperor Yincheng, the clouds hung low on the grassland outside the northern capital, and the sound of singing and flute flew far away. Thousands of young people listened silently. "Here we come." Buhuaya stopped playing the flute and stood up. When he sat crookedly on the felt, he looked like a lazy herdsman, but once he stood up, he looked like a bowed back tightened by strings, with his waist slightly arched, and his head raised to patrol the sky like a wolf. "What's coming?" Mu Li asked. "There." Bu Hua Sang raised his chin towards the northwest sky.

There were a few dark dots in the pale sky, hovering under the clouds, and the faint singing of birds was hoarse and shrill, not pleasant to the ear.But there were still no people to be seen on the flat and open grassland. "The sound is the chirping of vultures, and they are not far away." Buhuala calculated silently in his heart, "No more than twenty miles away." "Who is under the vulture?" Mu Li's pair of brown and yellow pupils looked like tiger eyes, staring at Bu Huaca, "Hudulu Khan, or Meng Lehuoer?" "Hunters regard vultures as divine birds, because they point the direction of wild deer and yellow sheep for hunters. They always hover over the heads of these living creatures, waiting for the beasts to come and kill their prey, leaving the rest of the carrion Give them. We rely on these vultures to hunt for prey." Buhuaca whispered, "But sometimes, vultures will also follow the wolves, because they know that wolves always hunt. When wolves When the flock gets close to prey, they will squirm up and down excitedly and let out hunger calls." "Has Menglehuoer come? Not more than twenty miles away? Can't he wait?" Mu Li stood up and slowly wrapped the wolf's sharp knife that was being sharpened into a piece of calfskin, "Menglehuoer , he also waited very hard." "We need to send scouts to take a look with our own eyes." Buhuasa bowed to Muli, "General Muli, let me go." "Your majesty wouldn't want to see his eagle die as a scout during the first battle, would he?" Mu Li said coldly. Buhuaca smiled lightly, with the unique might and pride of a prairie boy: "I am a hunter, and I regard horseback as my home. Let me go and see the wolves in Shuobei with my own eyes. Even if I encounter them, I will Can escape easily." Mu Li closed his eyes slightly, and opened them again after a long time: "I don't need a scout who escaped, I need a scout who can lead the enemy into the encirclement. Can you do it?" Buhua raised his eyebrows: "Where will General Muli's encirclement be?" Mu Li spread out a piece of sheepskin, on which was a topographical map around the northern capital.He pointed to a meandering river in the west of the city: "Seven miles west of the city is the Tainale River. This river originates from Tongyun Mountain and flows from north to south when it flows near the northern capital. It is not very wide. , Now the dry water is about fifty paces wide, and the deepest part can reach a man's shoulder. However, its river surface is frozen, and it is possible to walk on the ice, and ride a horse without any problem. The position where we meet the enemy is on the Taiwan Strait On the east side of the Nale River, you lead the enemy to the west side of the Tai Nale River, and then cross the river on the ice. When the enemy crosses the river, the ice is very slippery, and they must only move forward slowly. At this time, we will use the The cavalry presses up and shoots arrows." "If the Tenale River is only fifty paces wide, it is impossible for many people to stand on the ice, at most one or two hundred. If we shoot at them at this time, they will have at most one or two hundred casualties, and the brigade will retreat to the west of the river." No Flowers said. "You are right. At this time, the enemy will withdraw to the west of the river and shoot at us with bows and arrows. We will not be able to pursue them, because we will not be able to cross the river. But," Mu Li pointed to the lower reaches of the Tainal River, "here I know that there is a very narrow place where the ice will be thick when it freezes, and the cavalry can pass quickly. When the enemy was attracted to shoot at us by the river, our 10,000 cavalry had already gone around and charged Their backs. At this time, they will be attacked from the back. I don't care about Hudulu Khan's cavalry, we just need to guard against Meng Lehuoer's white wolf group." Buhuasa thought for a while, then nodded slightly. A ghost bow warrior brought a handsome horse from the city. The black horse pawed the ground with iron hooves, roared and swung its long mane like a banner. After walking a few steps, Buhuala turned back: "General Mu Li has already thought about this strategy? You have been looking at the northwest for two months, and you have decided to fight at the Tai Nale River? How do you know that Meng Which way will Le Huoer go?" "Because the wolf cavalrymen who died in the last war were buried in a valley to the west of the Tanale River, Menglehuoer would go to pay homage to them. In addition, that road was the last time Menglehuoer marched into the northern capital. I was He led the cavalry to fight him on the bank of the Tenale River, and lured him into the city by feigning defeat. The character of that man in Menglehuoer will definitely take the same road to capture the northern capital, and only in this way can he be washed away. The shame of the past years." Mu Li looked at the vultures flying in the northwest sky, "The Menglehuo'er Uerhan I know is a ferocious devil and a hero who cannot but be respected." "There are not many people in the world who are respected by Mu Li of the Qingyang Department, right?" Buhuasa walked down the city. "Remember, no matter how confident you are in your riding skills, you can't fight wolf cavalry! If you are only three hundred steps away from any white wolf, it will be very difficult for you to escape." Said coldly behind his back. The black steed galloped across the grassland like the wind, groping for the quiver on both sides of its back.His quiver is different from others. The quiver is fan-shaped. Each quiver has twenty-five spike arrows, which are divided into two rows and inserted one by one in the quiver. The two quiver are tied crosswise. behind his back.In this way, a total of fifty sharp arrows are like an open Donglu folding fan behind Buhuasa. This pair of quiver is left by his father. Buhuaca is familiar with the position of each arrow, and he will always remember which positions are empty. Where there are still arrows, he stretched his hand behind his back, there must be an arrow waiting for him there. He fires three times faster than other ghost bow warriors. He re-checked the quiver because he could feel danger approaching around him. Although he didn't notice anything unusual, the alert black steed's ears had been erected like spear points since the moment it left the city.He had already crossed the ice of the Tai Nale River, and now he might encounter the army of Shuobei at any time. At that time, he had only one bow and fifty arrows. He was thankful that the snow had covered every inch of the ground so that he would not kick up any dust as he galloped.Otherwise, anyone in this open place can spot him at a glance.For a scout, the distance between life and death is equal to the distance between you and the enemy when you are discovered. The black steed slowed down, but Bu Huaya didn't use his spurs to urge it to continue running.He gripped his bow tightly, with an arrow on the string, and looked around alertly.Finally, the black steed snorted and stopped. In the middle of the white snow field, Bu Huaca looked at it alone, and could not see any traces of living things around him.He did not let go of his vigilance, he was familiar with his horse, and the skill of tracking the prey that this horse had developed during hunting was unmatched by even smart hunters. He finally noticed the reason why the black horse stopped. On the snow in front of him, there were shallow footprints, but it was not like a large group of cavalry passing by. soil.Buhuala tried his best to identify those footprints, but he couldn't tell whether they were of humans or wolves. It seemed that a small team passed by here before the snow stopped, and the footprints were covered by snow. He thought for a while, determined to seize this only clue.At this time, there should be only people from Shuobei near the northern capital. He needs to know where these people are going, maybe it is the station leading to the White Wolf Group that he has not been able to find. The black steed followed those vague footprints slowly under his command.Apparently the war horse showed great anxiety, and it had to move forward only because of the owner's driving. It walked very slowly.A shadow loomed over his heart, and he felt that there seemed to be a road under the snow. These footprints followed a road that had been abandoned for a long time, and there seemed to be some boulders lying in the surrounding snow. .He used to hunt in the south, so he was not very familiar with Beidu, and no one had ever told him that there was such a place near Beidu. He looked around and noticed that the horse was slowly going downhill, and the snow was getting deeper and deeper.This is a large low-lying land, and the snow will accumulate from the high places to the low-lying places.The snow had already covered the calves of the war horse, and it would soon be impossible to move like this. At this time, a huge black boulder appeared in front of him. He led his horse close to the boulder without any effort, stretched out his hand to sweep away the snow on it, and read the words on it.It was an inscription carved in two languages ​​of the barbarians and Donglu. The first sentence of the inscription is, "In the eleventh month of this frost year, after 75,000 people died in battle, Qingyang and Shuobei ceased fighting here. Make an alliance, be a son-in-law, and swear by the souls of the warriors buried in this cemetery, to keep peace as long as we live..." Buhua shivered fiercely.He finally understood why he always felt that he was walking on the same road. There was indeed a road under the heavy snow. It was a divine way, leading to the cemetery of the victims in the two wars thirty years ago! All the muscles in his body tensed suddenly, and he looked around, seeing a vast expanse of whiteness around him.He was standing in the middle of a valley with a radius of several miles, as if he was standing at the midpoint of a huge whirlpool.The sky began to snow finely, and the eagle eye could not see a mile away.He hesitated for a long time, because those footprints suddenly became clear at this moment, pointing forward one after another. Buhuara narrowed his eyes slightly, he finally suppressed the uneasiness in his heart, and rode forward.The snow was falling more and more densely, and the voice of singing could be faintly heard in the snow curtain, which seemed to be a sacrificial ceremony performed by a wizard not far away.Buhuaca felt that his blood flow was speeding up, and he was about to touch the enemy, but Buhuaca felt fearless instead.He thought for a while, and jumped off the horse silently. He was worried that the black war horse would be too conspicuous on the snow, and he had a suede sheepskin on his back, which was most suitable for hiding in the snow.He bent down, stepped on the snow up to his thighs, and kept his bow half-opened, with an arrow on the bowstring. The voice of chanting became clearer and clearer. In the vast white snow field, black figures appeared faintly, and the number of them was very small.Bu Hua Ya pulled up the sheepskin to cover his head and continued to approach, he didn't dare to take a big breath, for fear that the white breath of breathing would be noticed by the other party.He finally saw clearly, and the moment he saw clearly, he couldn't restrain his panic, he couldn't help panting heavily, and puffs of white air dispersed in the air. Someone turned over a piece of snow tens of feet long and wide, and even the soil below was dug to a depth of more than five feet, exposing an unknown number of bones.The remains of these warriors who died in battle were lying side by side, and each skeleton was lying on its side, with legs slightly curled up, one sticking to the other, sticking tightly.Thousands, or tens of thousands, no one can count.Buhuala had never seen so many corpses, which reminded him of the legend of the Dragon Tomb. It is said that the dragon is a spiritual beast. Knowing that he will die, he will silently swim to the deep ocean tombs where his ancestors have slept. It is a world of keels, the sternums of giant dragons cover the seabed plain like countless houses. When Buhuala heard this legend when he was very young, the dragon who wanted to see the remains of his ancestors with his own eyes was so sad before he died.Now that he saw these human bones, the intense grief made him almost unable to control himself for a while. In front of the opened cemetery, someone built a red skull on the surface of the skeleton into a square minaret, which is as tall as a person and a half, like a huge tombstone.In front of the Skull Tower, the red skeletons were sorted out and lay flat in the white snow.Buhuala suddenly realized that those were the bones of the wolf cavalry. The food of the wolf cavalry was different from that of ordinary grassland herdsmen. After their death, their bones would slowly turn a strange pale red. Warriors" reason. There were only two people in Buhuasa's field of vision, both of them were wearing crimson cloaks, holding sacrificial rhinoceros horn knives in their hands, their backs were facing Buhuasa.The person near the skull tower seems to be taller and thinner from the back, while the person standing aside with his head bowed is majestic and burly.Slowly and effortlessly, he aimed at the tall and thin figure.He hasn't decided whether he wants to kill the opponent here, which may affect his major event of luring the enemy. The tall and thin man didn't realize that there was danger approaching from behind, he hummed a sacrificial song in a low voice, and stroked the pale red skeletons one by one.Most of these skeletons have iron chains hanging around their necks, and they wear rusted iron plates.The tall and thin man identified the iron plates one by one and said something in a low voice.After finishing speaking, he took off the skull and built it on the skull tower. Noticing that his exposed arm was iron-like black, dry and strong, he easily twisted off the spine of an almost complete skeleton and took off the skull.He couldn't contain his curiosity, and approached about ten steps forward again, and finally he could distinguish the man's deep and hoarse voice from the wind. "Sleep at ease, your son has grown up, he is a brave warrior." The tall and thin man stroked the skull of a skeleton, and after he finished speaking, he twisted the skull off and piled it on the skull tower. "Your wife remarried to a brave warrior and gave birth to a brave child. Although he doesn't look like you, he is as strong as you." He walked to the next skeleton, "Take it as a My son, sleep peacefully." "Your wolf is dead, but she gave birth to pups and is very strong. Sleep well." He twisted off another skull. When he recognized the iron plate on the neck of a skeleton, he stroked the top of the skull and remained silent for a long time: "Your family is dead, your wolf is dead, and you have no offspring." "Let's sleep peacefully." He also broke the skull, "Your companions have already returned here." "Your son is a coward. I have taught him a lesson for you. Sleep in peace." "Your younger brother leads a large family of thousands of people in the north, you can sleep in peace." "Your wife betrayed you and committed adultery with a man. I have already cut off her head for you. Sleep peacefully." Buhuaca felt that the blood vessels in his heart were about to explode, and that old voice echoed in his ears.Thirty years later, this man could still recognize every wolf cavalry soldier who had been loyal to him from those iron plates. He came back to pay homage to the warriors who died for him, and Mu Li guessed it right.I don't know who that old man is, the unique Menglehuoer Uerhan on the grassland! He was about to draw his bow and shoot an arrow, but he saw the man behind Shuobei Wolf Lord take off his hood, turned around and smiled coldly.On top of the man's shaved head was a snake tattooed in gold!He looked innocent, that kind of disdainful smile was purely looking at a dead person. That is the "Golden King" Hudulu Khan, and a father and son from Shuobei are all here. Unable to shoot arrows anymore, when Hudulu Khan gave him a sneer smile, he was terrified like a devil jumping down from mid-air, encircling him in his arms.Buhuala smelled the restless smell in the air, he turned his head suddenly and saw the wolf! Huge, white, wolf. That wolf was simply the emperor of wolves, its body length was almost equal to that of a tiger, and its shoulder height was the same as that of a Hokuriku steed.It shakes its snow-white long hair soundlessly in the bleak cold wind, its thick and powerful paws sink into the snow without making any sound, and its pair of green eyes stare straight at Buhuala.It has regarded Buhuaji as a delicious prey, and the desire for blood is surging in its veins.It is only thirty steps away from Buhuaca. "If you are only three hundred steps away from any white wolf, it will be very difficult for you to escape." Mu Li's words rang again in Buhua's ears, like thunder.He was negligent, and what was worse was that he didn't know this kind of galloping wolf from the extreme northern wilderness at all. He thought that this wolf had already been eyeing him when he stepped into this cemetery.That's why the war horse showed that anxiety. Retreating quickly, the giant wolf launched a pounce almost at the same instant.He didn't even have a chance to draw his bow, he was stuck in the snow and couldn't escape.Chi Lang's blow was as fast as the best horse in Hokuriku.At this time, the galloping wolf suddenly stopped, and the beast seemed to be aware of the danger, and suddenly turned its head and looked to one side.With a mighty roar, the slick black horse approached very quickly on the snow, and the snow couldn't stop the slick horse, which had been following since childhood, it kept jumping to avoid being trapped. The moment he approached the giant wolf, the black horse man stood up, and stepped on the top of the giant wolf's head with two bowl-sized horse hooves.Horses on the prairie have only four iron hooves to deal with wolves, and ordinary wolves have to retreat temporarily under the hooves of the stallion.But the moment the black horse stood up, the giant wolf also stretched its waist and stood up!It stood up better than the black horse, it was as tall as two people, and it swung its two front paws and was about to plunge into the black horse's chest. Even an ordinary wolf can tear a horse's belly with a single slash of its claws.At this time, the two powerful hind hooves of the black horse slammed on the ground, and a large amount of snow rose up. To the waist of the giant wolf.The soft waist of the wolf is the key to the wolf, and the giant wolf had to twist around to avoid the attack. The black horse landed on the ground and neighed mournfully at Bu Hua San.Buhuaca jumped onto the horse's back, stretched out his hand to touch the horse's body, his hands were covered with warm blood.At that moment just now, the giant wolf's sharp claws still left three deep blood marks on the black horse's chest.Enduring the severe pain, the black horse galloped towards the east with its owner. It understood human nature and knew that it would be safe to return there. The blood of the horse splattered in a series, like flowers blooming in the snow.Buhuala regards this horse as his brother, he doesn't know how long this horse can last like this, it may fall down at any time.He felt a heart-wrenching pain, and pulled out three arrows from his back at once, and shot at the giant wolf.The distance between them was not far, and the target of the giant wolf was huge, and all three arrows hit.The beast howled in pain, and the howl was so loud that it hurt the ears.The giant wolf didn't fall down, and the force of the arrow was enough to penetrate the five layers of cowhide armor, but it only missed three inches of the giant wolf's body.The giant wolf lowered its head, bit the arrows, and pulled them out bloody. It howled again, this time not in pain but in rage.It was faster than galloping horses and chased after him. At the same time, three giant wolves of the same size jumped up in the surrounding snow and joined the team chasing after him.They have been crouching there for a long time, waiting for this fresh flesh and blood.