In the desert, a soldier wearing Tang army armor is shouting in despair.
"Are there any survivors? Is anyone here...?" He was surrounded by a circle of camels. Inside sat a monk, silent, chanting sutras.
After shouting several times, no one responded, and the soldier could only squat on the ground in despair. When the caravan set out, it was escorted by hundreds of elite soldiers. But after a sandstorm, he was the only one left. If he couldn't deliver the caravan to the Eighteen Mile Post Station on time, he would be held accountable, facing either death or desertion. He didn't want to choose either path.
Looking back at the monks chanting sutras, I realized for the first time that these respected monks were utterly useless in a critical moment.
Just then, his eyes suddenly lit up; someone...
On a small sand dune not far away, a masked man in a long robe was walking unsteadily. After a few steps, he lost his footing and fell straight down the dune.
The soldier was overjoyed and immediately rushed forward. Unfortunately, the person wasn't his lost comrade; he seemed to be just a passerby. But the soldier couldn't care less. He was content with just one living person, not counting the monks behind him.
After drinking a few mouthfuls of water, the man regained consciousness. He seemed startled at first glance, but quickly returned to normal.
"Did you save me?" the other person asked in a hoarse voice.
...............
At Dama Camp, Lu Xuan and the old man were making tense preparations.
Each person gets two horses. One to carry the rider, and the other to carry water and provisions. All the dried meat from the kitchen should be cut into small pieces and taken along.
Lu Xuan and the old man worked overtime to dry all the mutton and baked over a hundred flatbreads. They didn't care about the taste, just that the meat was dry and wouldn't spoil easily. Each horse carried four sheepskin bags filled with cooled boiled water.
When everything was almost ready, Xiao Si ran in.
"Master, there's someone on the street soliciting knife-wielders and grooms. Mr. An is heading in that direction too."
Upon hearing this, Lu Xuan immediately spoke up.
"You two take the horses and supplies and wait for me at the east gate of the Great Horse Camp." After saying that, Lu Xuan picked up his horse-slaying saber and ran out.
Li, the Commandant of the City Massacre, is a nickname few people know. It's actually an ironic one. The person who received this nickname wasn't because he massacred a city, but because he didn't.
Li Xiaowei was a captain in the Tang army in his early years. Once, he was ordered to kill a group of captured Turkic women and children. He refused to carry it out because he believed that warriors should not kill indiscriminately.
During wartime, his disobedience to military orders undoubtedly enraged his superiors, who immediately sent men to execute him. He also believed that warriors should not be indiscriminately killed. Therefore, he led his troops in rebellion, eventually breaking out with a dozen or so personal guards and becoming swordsmen in the Da Ma Ying area.
Many years have passed, and Lieutenant Li still occasionally thinks back to what happened that day. He regrets it, perhaps regretting leading his brothers into a desperate situation, or perhaps regretting his own naiveté. In any case, he regrets it.
Over the years, most of the brothers who had rebelled with him had died. Disheartened, he disbanded his group and went into exile alone.
Life was aimless, and he felt that living had no meaning. Later, while wandering aimlessly in the desert, he encountered a sandstorm. He thought that fate was finally going to take his life. However, for some unknown reason, he didn't die and was rescued again.
After inquiring, Lieutenant Li learned that it was a caravan from the Tang Dynasty, and one that originally had over a hundred soldiers guarding it. This meant that there was probably something extraordinary in the caravan.
Lieutenant Li felt he understood Heaven's will. He had one last thing to do: escort the caravan back to Chang'an, and then turn himself in.
Since these are important goods, two people (monks don't count as people) definitely can't handle it. The caravan has a total of thirty-two camels. Two people can't manage it all. At least two more grooms are needed, and a group of swordsmen will also need to be hired. Although they are traveling on the Silk Road, this road is not a smooth highway.
Lieutenant Li planned to hire a few swordsmen from the Great Horse Camp for backup along the way. However, as soon as he entered the camp, he sensed something was wrong. The streets were no longer bustling with people as before. Only a few figures hurried by.
There were a few knife-wielders sitting in the sun against the wall on the street corner.
Lieutenant Li was about to speak when he saw a man surnamed An leading a group of people out from the side.
“I’ve already hired that person,” Mr. An said to Captain Li with a smile.
"Not just that one person, I've hired all the knife-wielding thugs in the entire Da Ma camp. How about we team up?"
"I'm not here to hire a knife-wielder, just a few carriage drivers."
"A coachman will do. I have dozens of coaches under my command. They're all top-notch. How about it, why don't you give my brothers a chance to make a living?"
"Sir, you are joking. I only hire a few drivers; I don't need that many people."
"That's easy. You give me the job you're doing. Name your price, and I won't haggle. You won't have to lift a finger, but you'll still make a full profit. So, you can choose between the two options."
"Thank you for your kind offer, sir, but I have a promise to someone else. One should always keep one's word." Lieutenant Li refused in a lukewarm manner, knowing full well the background of the man surnamed An.
The smile on An's face faded.
"Being trustworthy is great, it's good to be trustworthy. I'm the most trustworthy person. Oh, I forgot to tell you, I also promised someone else. Sorry, brother..."
As soon as he finished speaking, all the swordsmen who had been lazily sunbathing around him stood up, drew their swords, and surrounded Lieutenant Li.
Lieutenant Li, experienced as he was, knew he couldn't allow the enemy to encircle him. He launched a preemptive attack, drawing his sword and felling the nearest swordsman, then mounted his horse and charged towards the gate he had come from. But he had only gone a few steps when he saw the gate slam shut. Without pausing, he turned and galloped in another direction.
He didn't know what these bandits wanted from the caravan. But he knew he absolutely couldn't let anything belonging to the Tang Empire fall into their hands. Their words implied that the Turks had intervened. As a Tang soldier, he was even less likely to allow the caravan to fall into Turkic hands. Indeed, Lieutenant Li, deep down, still considered himself a soldier of the Tang Dynasty.
However, he underestimated the influence of the man surnamed An in the Dama camp. From almost every street around him, more than one knife-wielder rushed out. Within moments, over fifty knife-wielders had gathered to surround him.
Lieutenant Li was considered a skilled soldier, but even he couldn't fight fifty men alone on someone else's turf. He could only rely on the complex streets of Da Ma Ying and fight desperately to outmaneuver them.
During the fight, he accidentally fell off his horse and was forced to fight off fifty or sixty swordsmen on foot. However, as he passed through several narrow alleys, a small, tightly closed door suddenly opened, and a hand pulled him inside.
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Chapter Nine: Entering the Game
Lieutenant Li instinctively swung his sword. But he then realized that his opponent's strength was extraordinary. Caught off guard, he was pinned to the ground and his sword was taken from his hand.
Lieutenant Li felt a pang of despair, but just then, the other party spoke.
"Don't make a sound, I'm here to help you."
Lieutenant Li's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately fell silent. He heard a commotion outside, and then it seemed the swordsmen had given chase. At that moment, he felt the person on his back loosen their grip.
Looking back, he saw a young man who looked only seventeen or eighteen years old. He could hardly believe that this young man had subdued him in a single move. Although he had been caught off guard and had a slight lateral movement, the strength in the opponent's hand was so great that he couldn't resist.