Some of the soldiers who were rescued were so frightened that they collapsed on the sand, their faces pale, many of them were trembling all over, and their horses had long been submerged by the quicksand.
More than a dozen soldiers died because of quicksand, which made the entire army start to panic.
Zhao Ziliang angrily grabbed the collar of the expedition guide and asked, "Say, didn't you come back several times?
Why is there such a large area of quicksand here?"
If you don't tell me clearly whether the old man deliberately brought my army to this dead end, I will chop you alive today."
The guide had been trembling with fear for a long time.
Now that he was yelled at by the furious Zhao Ziliang, he was so frightened that he collapsed on the ground and stammered: "General, general, this villain is wronged.
I really don't know why the quicksand field appears like this." , villain I've been here twice, but nothing happened, and I didn't encounter quicksand.
This is the first time I've encountered it.
I live in Chang'an, and there are dozens of people at home.
Even if I had a hundred courage, I wouldn't dare to do something harmful to the army.
I would like to ask the general to take a clear look at this matter."
"It's only two trips.
How dare you claim to know all about the terrain and climate of this desert after only two trips?
I'll kill you."
Zhao Ziliang cursed and pulled out his sword to kill the businessman guide.
Chu Ge, who had been standing behind him, immediately hugged Zhao Ziliang and advised: "General, calm down, general, calm down.
Now is not the time to act on impulse, the overall situation is more important."
Zhao Ziliang calmed down after hearing this and inserted the horizontal sword into the scabbard.
Only then did Chu Ge let him go.
He grabbed the merchant guide by the collar and said coldly: "I will ask you, how can you survive in this quicksand land?"
If you don’t come up with a way for me to set up camp, I won’t be able to spare you.”
"Yes, yes, general, the villain has already thought of a way.
The general only needs to order the soldiers to spread the shields on the sand, lead the horses on foot, and the soldiers behind will take back the shields, and then pass them to the front one by one.
In this way, You can cross this quicksand and retract your shield.
This quicksand shouldn't be big, so you can definitely walk out."
In order to survive, the businessman guide really tried his best and came up with this feasible method before Zhao Ziliang went crazy.
After Zhao Ziliang thought about it, he felt that this method should be feasible, so he rode his horse to Fumeng Lingcha and reported: "General, we just lost a dozen brothers and a scout captain due to the quicksand incident.
Some of the soldiers are panic-stricken.
Please give the general's order to let The soldiers spread their shields on the ground, dismounted and led their horses to walk on the shields through the quicksand.
Then the soldier at the end took back the shields and passed them piece by piece to the soldiers in front.
In this way, they could not only cross the quicksand, but also Can take back the shield".
Fumeng Lingcha nodded: "Okay, this is a good method.
Let's do this to Kang Huaishun.
Pass the military order to this general and follow Ziliang's method."
Kang Huaishun quickly agreed: "No" Fumeng Lingcha said to Zhao Ziliang again: "Ziliang, you have many ways.
Let's do this.
You hand over the officers and soldiers of your headquarters to trustworthy people, and you take some others to the front of the army to take command.
With you By taking care of the front of the army, I, the general, can feel more at ease."
These words can be said to express full trust and respect for Zhao Ziliang.
Zhao Ziliang immediately handed over his hands and said: "General, don't worry, I will do my best in the end."
The method of crossing the quicksand with the shields under your feet really worked.
It took the army an hour to cross the quicksand in a thrilling manner.
After retracting all the shields, everyone, including Fumeng Lingcha, They all breathed a sigh of relief.
After Zhao Ziliang took charge of the front of the army, he immediately removed the sentry team sent by Fumeng Lingcha and asked Chu Ge and Wang Can to lead their own sentinel team and merchant guides to explore and clear the way in front of the army.
Free novels bring you joy and joy ---> storyskyline.net
Fumeng Lingcha The sentry sentry team had long since lost their fighting spirit because their captain was submerged in quicksand.
Instead of complaining when he was replaced, they were grateful to Zhao Ziliang.
Zhao Ziliang pulled the businessman guide and said: "Shopkeeper Fan, this general is a rough man.
He was a little impulsive just now.
Please don't mind."
When the shopkeeper named Fan Zhen saw Zhao Ziliang's apology, he quickly said: "General, this is a shame for the villain.
In fact, it is not the general's fault.
Anyone who encounters this kind of thing will do this.
The villain doesn't take it to heart at all.
Please general."
Don't worry, the villain will do his best to lead the army to the city of Permanent Ross safely."
Zhao Ziliang nodded and asked again: "Shopkeeper Rufan, if you don't mind, I would like to ask you how much you can earn from your caravan traveling between Chang'an, Dashi, and the Eastern Roman Empire."
Fan Zhen smiled and said: "There's nothing bad to say about this.
This business is just a hard job.
It's not a big deal.
The farther you travel and the more goods you bring, the more you make.
For example, the villain's boss was originally The capital of 150,000 guan, excluding the money for hiring the escort, the food and drink along the caravan, taxes and other management, you can earn about 200,000 guan for one round trip."
"More than double the profit, it's very generous.
Sure enough, the bigger the capital, the more you earn."
Zhao Ziliang nodded.
Fan Zhen added: "But the risk is also very high.
The bigger the caravan is and the more valuable the goods are, the greater the chance of being robbed.
If it is robbed, not only the goods will not be protected, but no one in the caravan may survive."
After listening to Fan Zhen's words, Zhao Ziliang suddenly understood why those Sogdian merchants did business as envoys of a certain country.
This was to prevent being made trouble by the local government or being robbed.
With the status of diplomatic envoys, their caravans If the caravan is robbed by bandits, the local government will do its best to suppress the bandits and recover the stolen caravan goods in order to avoid causing additional disputes.
Zhao Ziliang remembered something again and asked: "Shopkeeper Fan, when is the best time to set up camp?"
Fan Zhen said quickly: "General, it's best to camp at Haishi.
You see, it's still a little hot now, but it's far less hot than during the day.
The deeper the night is, the colder it is in the desert.
If you don't camp at Haishi, people will be killed."
It’s freezing, and there are often strong winds or storms late at night in the desert.”
Zhao Ziliang nodded and made an estimate.
It was only about nine o'clock in the evening.
He could still walk for more than an hour before setting up camp.
If it was later, it would be impossible.
In order to ensure the safety of the soldiers and prevent individual soldiers from falling behind, getting lost, and falling into quicksand, Zhao Ziliang found Fumeng Lingcha and asked him to give an order.
No permission was allowed.
No one was allowed to leave the group without permission.
Even if he wanted to defecate, he had to wait until he set up camp. .
At Haishi, we chose a leeward sand dune to camp.
After yesterday's battle, the soldiers marched quickly in the scorching sun today.
They were frightened by the quicksand incident at night and were extremely tired.
After eating and drinking, they crowded into the tents.
Fall asleep inside and have a peaceful night.
Free novels bring you joy and joy ---> storyskyline.net
Early the next morning, the army broke out of camp again after breakfast.
Just like yesterday, it was too hot at noon, so they set up camp and rested for an hour and a half.
After the hottest period passed, they broke out of camp and continued marching.
Since Zhao Ziliang always maintained sufficient water and food, the army There was no situation like other caravans or armies that were unable to move due to lack of water and food in the desert.
At dusk, Zhao Ziliang was riding a war horse at the front of the army.
At this time, a horse came running from the front.
When he looked closer, he saw that it was Wang Can.
Wang Can, sweating profusely, reined in his horse and stopped, cupping his hands and saying: "General, there is something abnormal ahead, and it's hard for my subordinates to tell.
General, you'd better go and see it yourself."
Zhao Ziliang immediately rode forward with Wang Can.
After running three hundred meters, he saw more than a dozen of Wang Can's men, led by Chu Ge, running towards this side in panic.
Wang Can suddenly discovered that the entire sentry team was missing four people, so he immediately asked: "Chu Ge, where are the four other people under me?"
Chu Ge looked frightened and extremely pale.
He said in shock: "General, it's too scary, too scary.
The four of them turned into piles of bones in the blink of an eye."
Zhao Ziliang's expression changed and he immediately said: "Don't panic, tell me clearly what is going on."
Just as Chu Ge was about to speak, he heard one of them Ye Busuo exclaimed: "It's coming after him, it's coming after him."
Zhao Ziliang looked behind Chu Ge and the others and saw a huge black ball with a diameter of more than five meters rolling quickly two hundred meters in front of him.
The black ball was rolling on the sand at such a fast speed that it was as if it was walking on flat ground.
Zhao Ziliang took a closer look.
When he got closer to the huge black ball, he finally saw it clearly.
His face suddenly turned pale.
Damn it, isn't he a desert army ant?
How could there be desert army ants in this damn place?
Seeing the huge black ball rolled by countless desert army ants getting closer and closer, Zhao Ziliang turned his head and looked back.
The direction it was heading was exactly the direction of the army.
If it collided with the army, the consequences would be disastrous.
He Immediately shouted: "Quickly move to both sides, retreat three hundred steps away, quick" Chu Ge, Wang Can and their men stayed away for more than a dozen nights and didn't understand what they were saying, but they immediately rode their horses and fled in both the north and south directions.
Zhao Ziliang looked ahead again.
The huge black ball rolled by desert army ants was now flat on the sand, forming a "black carpet" that was a hundred meters long and ten meters wide.
But soon this "black carpet" "It rolled up again at the back, getting bigger and bigger, and finally formed a black cylinder more than two meters high.
Then the cylinder quickly moved forward and slowly turned back into a black ball.
Zhao Ziliang was horrified when he saw it.
He immediately turned his horse around and ran wildly in the direction of the army.
Before he could get in front of the army, he shouted: "Get out of the way.
Move back three hundred steps to both sides.
Quickly move back three hundred steps to both sides."
The cavalrymen in the front row heard Zhao Ziliang's words and saw Zhao Ziliang rushing over like crazy holding the golden nail Zaoyang.
They all dispersed to both sides, but the space to disperse was not large.
After Zhao Ziliang galloped past, The front row of cavalry showed signs of closing up again.
"Get out of his way, move to both sides, don't close together, leave a passage, hurry up!"
Zhao Ziliang shouted anxiously while galloping his horse.
After a while, he ran to Fumeng Lingcha.
Seeing this, Fumeng Lingcha couldn't help but frowned and shouted: "Zhao Ziliang, what's going on, why do you want the soldiers to disperse?"
: