Time: Early November of the winter of the seventh year of Zhenguan, the Tang Dynasty.

Location: A desert on the northwest border of the Tang Dynasty.

Character: A caravan composed of more than one hundred people.

"I said, shopkeeper, why are your goods so heavy? I almost took off my hands when I was moving the goods, and almost smashed my feet. Now my hands are still sore. What is this?" A thin man rode on the horse, complaining with a middle-aged man in his forties in front of him with a depressed look on his face.

The goatee was riding on the horse and was leisurely looking at the surrounding scenery. He turned his head and smiled, "It's not a valuable thing, it's just some ordinary goods. Of course it's a bit heavy, and it's not going to hit you. The wages are not missing. What are you complaining about?"

The thin man nodded helplessly, and then asked as if he thought of something, "Shopkeeper, where are we going? It doesn't seem like the route to the Western Turkic Royal Court? Could it be to the Western Regions? The road is far! You, the shopkeeper, don't tell us, is there enough food and water? Also, it seems to be quite close to Tuyuhun. The Tang Dynasty did not trade with Tuyuhun. Tuyuhun came to fight Lanzhou a few days ago, so we can't do business with them!"

The goatee-bearded thin man glanced at him and said, "Why are you talking so much? Who said I want to do business with Tuyuhun? Those barbarians are against the Tang Dynasty every day and always don't deal with us. Although I am a businessman, I also know the righteousness. Didn't business with them harm the Tang Dynasty? I have read books, do you think I'm the same as you?"

The thin man's eyes flashed with a shiny glow, and approached the goatee with a flattering smile, and said with a smile: "Oh, the shopkeeper really can't tell. Are you still a book? Why do people who have read books still become businessmen? I heard that the court has already studied some techniques, saying that everyone can read books after the Tang Dynasty. Ouch..."

Goatee said angrily: "That's papermaking and movable type printing. What a great merit. You have to remember, and who said that those who have read books cannot be businessmen? The more you learn from this, the more you learn from others, and everyone can study. The court also needs to build an official school. This scholar will not be so rare. Maybe you can study when you return home. Don't you live in Yongzhou? There is a place for elementary school. You can study after you go back."

The thin man laughed and said, "Hehe, that's right. Yesterday, I brought me a letter from home, saying that I had signed up for me, and that I could go to study when I go back, hehe. From now on, I will be a scholar, so I can be so proud of this, hehe! The shopkeeper, if I read books and learn words in the future, can I increase my salary or something?"

The goatee burst out laughing. He took out a hardcover book from his arms and handed it to the thin man and said, "If you can memorize this "Three Character Classic" within one year, I will give you double the salary!"

The thin man carefully held the book. When he heard the goatee's words, his eyes immediately shone: "Okay! Shopkeeper, just wait! Get the double salary! Be good, this is a book, I have never seen it before. Oh, I'm the first person in our village to see a book. Hehe..."

The goatee smiled and shook her head, and didn't say anything, then turned her head and looked away, with a flash of light in her eyes, and she murmured in a low voice: "It should be coming soon."

The thin man was very close, but his mind was on that book, and he didn't hear Goatbeard talking to himself. No one else heard it. Goatbeard looked ahead quietly, glanced around from time to time, and after a while, he suddenly raised his hand and shouted: "Everyone listen, abandon the goods and retreat! Run back to the road coming! Don't stop! Don't stop if you want to survive! Drive!"

The shopkeeper turned his horse's head and slapped his horse's butt and ran back. Before the thin man came to his senses, the group of people turned their horse's head and ran wildly. Seeing this, the thin man was anxious and put the book in his arms and ran wildly. After running for a while, he saw the goatee in front of him stopped. He turned around and could no longer see the ground just now. The thin man couldn't help but wondered, and had no idea what was going on. He finally chased him to the goatee and was about to speak, but the goatee reached out to stop him: "Don't talk!"

Although the thin man was puzzled, he still closed his mouth and looked around his escort partners. He saw that they had the same expression as the shopkeeper. He couldn't help but have an idea in his heart that he probably had boarded the pirate ship...

After a while, Goatee waved his hand: "Retreat!"

The horse team slowly began to move, and the thin man couldn't help but ask, "Shopkeeper, what's going on? Why did you run away if you lose the goods?!"

The goatee looked at the thin man with a smile and said, "Are you unhappy to let you live? Let's study with this life! If you weren't the only son in the family, you would have left you there long ago and saved your life without knowing it?" The goatee didn't tell lies. The instructions he received were to add a sense of reality and could sacrifice some people when necessary, but the conversation on the road made him very fond of this thin man. When he felt compassion, he saved him.

Forget it, just go back and explain it. Anyway, the goods have been lost and the matter has been done. It is better not to have any sacrifices. The Tang Dynasty lacks people, Mr. Du should understand that as for this lucky boy, hehe, I should not know that all this except him are blood droplets? Hehe, the lucky boy...

"What does it mean to save a life?" The thin man looked confused and frightened. The goatee smiled when he saw this: "Okay, don't worry. Forget what happened today. Don't tell anyone. Goat home and go back to study. When I can memorize this book of "Three Character Classic" well, take this waist card and come to Chang'an Zongheng Mansion to find me. At that time, you will know everything."

As he said that, Goatbeard handed a delicate and small waist card to the lean man, and instructed: "Don't let anyone see this waist card, even your mother, if you are seen, you can commit suicide!"

The thin man didn't know what he said. Looking at the waist card that was written on the three big words but he didn't recognize any of them, he was quite puzzled...

Also confused were an alien horse team of about 1,000 people, wearing fur clothes, holding scimitars, riding on the high-headed Dama Mountain, looking fierce. It was an elite cavalry at first glance, but they all had a confused look on their faces. Look at me and I look at you, quite confused, and the two strong men at the beginning were even more confused. One of the guys with a vulgar look asked the mighty man next to him: "General, didn't you say there would be a Han caravan? Now, there are such goods, but where are the people?"

The mighty Wuhan boy, who was called the general, was also very confused and said, "I don't know, Tianzhu Wang clearly said that he belonged to a caravan. He also said that the goods were gold. By the way, gold! Open these boxes quickly! See if the gold is still there!"

The mighty man ordered, and the alien cavalry around him dismounted and rushed to the boxes. After pried open it, they were stunned. The vulgar guy rode his horse to see it. He was also stunned and turned to the mighty man and said to the wretched man: "General, it's not gold, it's all, it's all stone!"

The mighty man was stunned and went to take a look. Sure enough, hundreds of large boxes were pried open and all of them were stones. This surprised him, but he couldn't think of the reason. He didn't know what was going on. Tianzhu Wang Mingming was very excited to tell himself that a batch of gold had to pass through here, and then asked him to lead his troops to ambush here. When the Han people came, they would kill them all and snatch the gold. After that, the Han people would ask if they wanted to admit it.

But the current situation was beyond his expectations. There was no one here. He waited for a while but didn't see the Han people coming, so he took people to investigate slowly forward. As a result, he saw such a scene. This situation puzzled him. There was no one, a lot of stones. He was brave in fighting and was the most brave general in Tuyuhun. But when it comes to being mean, he was really not everyone.

"Forget it, retreat, take all these things away, go back to report to the King of Tianzhu, and talk about the others!" The mighty man gave the order, so the cavalry took all these big chariots away. After everyone disappeared for a while, a sneaky figure appeared from the sand. He looked at the empty space around him, smiled, and then his body disappeared into the sand, missing.

The mighty man brought the cart to the designated location of King Tianzhu, and saw King Tianzhu was already waiting there with a group of people. It was getting late now, and not many people knew about it. This matter was originally a very secret matter. King Tianzhu said that only Khan and King Tianzhu themselves knew about it. Now, including himself and these thousand soldiers, not many people knew about it. These soldiers were Khan's personal guards, which was obviously what Khan Fu Yun meant.

When the King of Tianzhu saw the mighty man coming, he immediately came forward with a smile and asked, "General Chi Yun, what's going well? Have all the Han people killed? Have the corpses been disposed of? How many people have we lost? How much gold have we obtained? The Khan is waiting in a hurry!"

Chi Yun looked at King Tianzhu, and a tangled expression appeared on his face, but this made King Tianzhu feel confused and worried. His smile disappeared and he changed into a worried expression: "What, what happened? Did the Han people escape or something else happened? Tell me quickly!"

Chi Yun gritted his teeth and said, "Tianzhu King, this matter is very strange. You said that a Han caravan passed by our ambush, but no caravan passed by our ambush circle. I felt that something was wrong, so I asked someone to go forward and follow the road to explore. As a result, I saw hundreds of big cars parked there, and there were still many horseshoe prints around. Someone must have come, and it should be that caravan.

But Mo Jiang didn't understand why all the Han people in that caravan disappeared, and these big carts were not taken away. Moreover, King Tianzhu, there was no gold, all of them were stones, and there was no piece of gold. None of us soldiers lost, but no Han people saw them. There were only these big carts and stones. Mo Jiang really didn't understand what was going on?"

King Tianzhu's face became increasingly ugly. When Chi Yun finished everything he should say, King Tianzhu gritted his teeth and asked, "No gold is there? No Han people saw it?"

Chi Yun nodded: "That's it!"

King Tianzhu had a dark face and shouted: "Go and call Mr. Liu over to me!"

Immediately a team of soldiers promised to go, but soon they came back. The leading officer said in panic: "King Tianzhu, something is wrong. Mr. Liu's room is empty, and the two guards were killed!"

King Tianzhu's eyes widened, and he almost stopped. Chi Yun hurriedly stepped forward to support King Tianzhu and asked, "King Tianzhu, what's wrong with you? Also, who is that Mr. Liu? Is he a Han Chinese? What's going on?"

King Tianzhu didn't say a word, but his face turned pale, his teeth clattered, he threw away Chi Yun's support, turned over to the horse, and said to Chi Yun: "General Chi Yun, from now on, prepare for war across the country!"
Chapter completed!