Warlords: Rising from the Northwest Border and Sweeping Across the Powers

As the sun was blazing, a large force of the Northwestern Revolutionary Army's Motorized Infantry Brigade had penetrated into Ganzhou, traveling a hundred miles east from the north of Lantian City and entering the outskirts of the Tak Gobi Desert.

The Tak Gobi is a desert terrain consisting of coarse sand and gravel covered on a hard soil layer.

It looks vast and boundless, with patches of red Gobi sand everywhere, some camel thorns growing alone, and patches of red willow bushes can be seen in the distance.

Of course, Schrodinger did not blindly lead his troops into the hundreds of miles of uninhabited Gobi Desert.

They specially found a guide from Lantian City. The guide's name was Liu Yushu, who was over 60 years old this year. He had made a living by crossing the Gobi Desert and selling grain from southern Gansu to northern Gansu for most of his life. He was as familiar with the entire Tak Gobi Desert as his own backyard.

The further you go in, the drier the climate becomes. Getting lost in the Gobi Desert is an extremely scary thing. Instead, you can bring a guide with you who knows where to get water and which direction to get out of the Gobi Desert most quickly.

"Captain Xue, believe me, if we go northeast and cross Hongyan Beach, we will be out of the Tak Desert in two days. Turning east, we will reach the border between Gansu and Linyi provinces."

Liu Yushu was holding a pipe given to him by Schrodinger in his mouth. He puffed out smoke and spoke confidently.

"Twenty miles to the north is a poplar forest. There is a clean water source near the poplar forest. It is enough for us to replenish our supplies. We can get there and set up camp before night."

"Just listen to Uncle Liu and tell all the troops not to fall behind. Follow the troops that lead the way and get to the supply point before dark."

Before dark, the large force finally arrived at the supply point Liu Yushu mentioned.

Looking around, there was a large poplar forest in the center of the Gobi Desert. Not far from the forest there was a dilapidated temple and a small sparkling lake.

Liu Yushu led Xue Ding to the lake, pointed at the clear water in front of him and said with some pride: "Captain Xue, this is the legendary Fountain of Life in the Tak Desert. The water is extremely sweet and has never dried up in hundreds of years. Every time I cross the Tak Desert, I will replenish my water here."

Not far away on the other side of the lake, an antelope saw someone coming and fled in panic with a vigilant look.

At this time, in a ruined temple not far away, Christie, an elegantly dressed English antique dealer wearing a suit and holding a walking stick, was directing some Chinese men wearing sheepskin coats to dismantle the huge Buddha statue in the ruined temple, preparing to take away all the valuable murals and exquisitely shaped Buddha heads.

The roar of cars apparently caught their attention.

One of the men, a scarred man carrying a hunting rifle, was slightly stunned. He stopped what he was doing and hurried out of the temple gate. In the afterglow of the setting sun, he saw the huge convoy of the motorized infantry brigade.

"Damn it, why are there troops in this desert? Are they also coming for this ancient Buddhist temple?"

Scarface muttered to himself, his expression becoming somewhat uncertain.

They were originally bandits roaming in the Gobi Desert, making a living by robbing the caravans and traveling merchants crossing the Gobi Desert. They were extremely vicious and it was basically impossible for anyone who encountered them to get out of the Gobi Desert safely, as they would lose both their lives and their wealth.

This time they were hired by the antique dealer Christie, who paid a large sum of money and asked them to help him find a way to transport the invaluable cultural relics from the abandoned ancient Buddhist temple to Hanbei City.

For this, Christie paid a full 30,000 dollars. This price was enough to make these bloodthirsty bandits excited.

Xue Ding had very good eyesight and could see the figure in front of the ruined temple from a long distance away.

"Uncle Liu, why is there someone else in this dilapidated temple?"

Liu Yushu was also a little surprised and said, "In this season, few caravans would choose to pass through here, but it's hard to say, they might be caravans from other places."

"Let's go over and take a look."

Xue Ding could tell at a glance that the man at the door of the dilapidated temple seemed to be carrying a spear on his back, so he was more cautious, greeted him, and walked over with a platoon of soldiers from the guard battalion.

"These soldiers are coming, Boss, what should we do? Or should we fight them?"

Scarface kicked the younger brother on the butt.

"Fuck you, can't you see these are regular troops? Just behave yourself and follow their wishes. I think I can fool them."

Christie walked over and asked Scarface, "Mr. Du, what happened?"

Christie's Chinese is pretty good, so she has no problem communicating with these bandits.

"It seems that a warlord's army is coming. You should stop talking and I will deal with them."

Christie straightened her suit and said proudly, "Your Chinese warlord troops are not even third-rate in the world. Don't worry, I am the heir of the Viscount family of the Ingrid Empire. They dare not do anything to us."

For Christie, although he was the son of a ruined noble family in the Ingrid Empire and his status was not very good, after arriving in China, he became a superior person. No matter which warlord force it was, they did not dare to provoke foreigners easily, which gave him an inexplicable sense of confidence.

While the two were talking, Xue Ding had already brought his men over, and the soldiers from other motorized infantry brigades had also begun to replenish water, set up tents, and prepare to set up camp here.

"Who are you and why are you here?"

Seeing that the other side had guns, Xue Ding's platoon leader suddenly became nervous. Could it be that the Northwest Revolutionary Army's plan was exposed? Was the other side Guo's faction?

But they didn't look like that. With their tattered leather coats, old-fashioned rifles, and other attire, they looked no different from bandits. On the contrary, the foreigner with a defiant look on his face seemed out of place standing next to them.

At the signal from the platoon leader, the entire platoon of soldiers unanimously took off the rifles from their backs and aimed them at the men in front of them.

Scarface was startled, and hurriedly walked up, nodding and bowing, and explained to the platoon leader: "We are just ordinary businessmen who happened to pass by here. If you need any help from the general, please tell us. I don't know which unit of Governor Zhao you are from, but I am an old acquaintance of Captain Hua of the 35th Regiment."

Xue Ding narrowed his eyes and looked at the scarred man who seemed harmless.

"Caravan? If it's a caravan, why do you all carry guns? Where are your goods? Take them out and let me see."

Seeing that he couldn't fool them, Scarface steeled himself and pushed Christie in front of him and said, "To be honest, fellow soldiers, we are escorting this gentleman to the capital of Ganzhou. He is a distinguished guest of Governor Zhao."

"Captain Xue, don't listen to his nonsense. Damn Du Xiao, I'd recognize you even if you turned into ashes. The sixth son of our caravan died at the hands of you beasts."

Liu Yushu was excited, his eyes red. "This group of people are the bandits roaming in the Gobi Desert, doing all kinds of evil. The leader is Du Xiao, nicknamed Old Scar!"

Although Xue Ding was still confused about this matter, he understood what Liu Yushu said. These people were not easy to deal with.

Xue Ding waved his hand: "Catch these bandits for me!"