cynical

On the second day, Yin Sheng sat on a small cart with two dark circles under his eyes, and was dragged by a horse and slowly moved forward in the caravan.

After thinking about it all night, he finally decided to stay. No matter what he thought, if he walked alone in the desert for seven or eight days, it would be difficult to survive even if he didn't get lost, let alone return to the border town.

However, if the general who guards the city disappears for many days without any reason, the deputy general in the city will report the news of the general's possible death to his superiors.

The more Yin Sheng thought about it, the more depressed he became, and he sat down on the scooter until Nangong Le appeared in front of him.

"General Yin, are you dead?"

Nangong Le asked with a smile, which made Yin Sheng stare angrily.

"Thanks to you, I'm not dead yet!" Yin Sheng said angrily.

Nangong Le smiled, jumped on the cart and sat down next to the man, patting him on the shoulder, "General Yin, don't be so angry, listen to me. It's a war. Knowing yourself and the enemy is the most important thing. You say you know the barbarian tribe How much? Do you know their distribution? Do you know their customs? Do you know their needs? Do you know what kind of disputes there are in their tribes? Follow me to their tribes to see, you can find a lot of interesting things. "

"You always make a lot of lies..." Yin Sheng said sullenly, but it seemed that he was not as unhappy as before.

"This is not fallacious. General Yin, there is more than one way to fight. Human life is precious. Every soldier under your command is someone else's son, husband, and father. If you can settle disputes without bloodshed, why not use them? "

The man's bright smile made it difficult to tell whether he was serious or joking, but what he said made sense.

Yin Sheng glanced at him, but did not refute after all.

The camel bell jingled, and Yin Sheng's face gradually softened. After a while, he took the initiative to ask, "Young Master Tong, how do you know that it was not the sand bandits but the barbarians who attacked me?"

Nan Gong said: "Let's just say you need to know more about the desert. Sand bandits with more than a hundred members are extremely rare in the desert. There is only one sand bandit in the area where you were attacked. The leader is a man with a big black eye. The wretched man with the mole is ferocious and bloodthirsty, he must be there in every robbery, but you don't see it, this is one of the reasons.

"Secondly, the life of the Sand Pirates is very embarrassing. Most of the clothes on the Sand Pirates are patchwork. Shoes and weapons are luxury items for them. Dress neatly. Therefore, it is absolutely impossible for the person who attacked you to be a sand bandit. As for the person who pretends to be a sand bandit and attacks you, what other possibilities do you think other than the barbarian army?"

"Damn it! I'm going to kill them! No, I have to go back—"

Yin Sheng wanted to jump off the cart angrily, but Nangong Le pressed her lightly with her slender palm, making him unable to move immediately.

Nangong Le said unhurriedly: "What's the hurry, there are many chances to kill them..."

"What do you, a businessman, know?!" Yin Sheng said angrily, "I've been here all day, and you know how many things are delayed in Xingshan City!"

Nangong Le rolled his eyes and said calmly: "So what, it has nothing to do with me."

"You—the merchant is contemptuous! You say you know yourself and the enemy, but you are clearly reluctant to part with the benefits of this batch of goods!"

"I'm just contemptuous and greedy for money, how about it?" Nangong Le glanced at him and rolled his eyes at him.

In terms of verbal disputes, how could Yin Sheng be his opponent, he was so angry that he couldn't speak, he hesitated for a long time, and finally burst out, "Shameless!"

Nangong Le didn't respond yet, a black knife was stretched out beside Yin Sheng's neck.

A trace of cold air penetrated into the skin, Yin Sheng looked up along the black blade, and the person who drew the blade was Dong Lin.

Dong Lin's face was gloomy, and he said coldly: "You are not allowed to be rude to my young master."

Even if his life is in the opponent's hands at this moment, Yin Sheng just let out a cold snort forcefully, and turned his head in silence.

Nangong Lehe laughed twice, gently pushed Donglin's long knife away, and said, "It's okay, Donglin, take it back."

Dong Lin hesitated for a moment, then sheathed the knife without saying a word.

Nangong looked at Yin Sheng with a happy smile, and said, "Idiot, do you know what you should do most at this time?"

Yin Sheng glared at him.

"You should take good care of me, I'm in a better mood, maybe I'll send you back sooner."

Nangong Le smiled sweetly, his handsome face was so pretty that people couldn't take their eyes off him, but at this moment, Yin Sheng only felt that he was an eyesore, and what was even more eyesore was that his pair of white and slender hands were already on the base of his thighs through his clothes. Gently and softly stroking, Yin Sheng's thinking can't keep up, the body has already reacted instinctively.What was even more exasperating was that the young man blinked at him when he saw it, and said with pouted red lips as if acting coquettishly and accusingly: "Xiao Shengsheng is lustful! Just touch it lightly and there will be a reaction."

Yin Sheng was astonished and ashamed at the same time, suddenly realized that the other party was replying to his "shameless", he pushed his hand away with a dark face, and growled: "Let go—"

Before he could finish speaking, Nangong Le had already jumped on the horse, whipped the whip and ran away quickly, leaving behind a burst of laughter and a sentence that made Yin Sheng blush, "Xiao Shengsheng, your little brother is very good! Next time brother will accompany you He plays!"

"You -- bastard!"

Yin Sheng scolded, but he didn't dare to get up, as long as he got up together, the embarrassment would be exposed!

Yin Sheng was forced to follow the caravan, and could only endure Nangong Le's rescue and occasional jokes. Every time he was bullied to the point where he had no power to fight back, he could only sulking while sitting on the small cart.

Fortunately, although Nangong Le is vicious, he still knows how to measure, and sometimes what he says is quite meaningful. Yin Sheng's sulking anger slowly fades away, and occasionally seeing the young man's playful expression is quite interesting.

The caravan traveled for four or five days and finally reached the first tribe.

When the children playing around the tribe saw the caravan, they immediately ran and yelled in barbaric language. Soon, several people came out of the tribe, and some people in the caravan also went out to talk to each other in barbarian language.

Yin Sheng couldn't understand Manyu, seeing Nangong smiling happily at Mimi, he asked, "Can you understand Manyu? What are they talking about?"

Nangong Le said: "We are exchanging greetings. Those few people are the elders and wealthy households in the clan. Our caravan has traded with their tribe for many years, and we are very familiar with each other."

After the greetings, the caravan entered the tribe, and all the men and women in the tribe ran out, talking a lot, and their expressions seemed to be very happy.Yin Sheng looked at the situation in the tribe and found that it was not as bad as he thought. They were wearing the coarse clothes common to ordinary people in the Central Plains. Some of them wore fur vests and leather boots or cotton shoes on their feet. It seems to be quite warm in the cooler autumn.Although the tents look old and have traces of repairs, they are all complete and warm.

Nangong Le pulled him over and said with a smile: "The caravan will go to the tribe to collect things, would you like to have a cup of tea with me?"

Yin Sheng thought for a while but said, "No, no, I'll follow Dong Lin to have a look."

"That's up to you." He didn't stop him, and let Yin Sheng follow the caravan to look around the tribe, while he followed an old man into the tent.

Caravans and tribes used barter methods. Most of the things these barbarians could produce were wool, milk cakes, meat, medicinal materials, mats, and various animal skins, while what the caravans sold to them were cloth and salt. , Cotton jackets, cotton boots and other things related to food and clothing, as well as a few down jackets and duvets.

This kind of light and fluffy clothes and quilts are particularly warm, and they are holy goods for winter for people in the desert. However, this thing is very expensive, and it takes a lot of things to exchange for one.

Yin Sheng was a little angry at first, because the caravan did not only sell luxury goods as Nangong Le said, except for down products, the others were necessities of life, but after a few more glances, he found the mystery of it—the caravan was built with a much higher Things are sold at their original value.

For example, the piece of cloth is just a low-grade newly woven white cloth. In the Central Plains, a piece costs about [-] to [-] Wen, but when you get here, you have to exchange it for something more than [-] Wen!

Profiteer, big profiteer!Yin Sheng said in his heart.It is said that businessmen seek profit, and it is true!

But even with such an unfair deal, it is said that it is already the best price. If it is another caravan, the exploitation will be even more serious.

However, this news did not make Yin Sheng happy, because he suddenly thought that Tong Le's transaction with such "preferential" terms would not make the lives of these barbarians better?

"Tsk, fool! I don't do business at a loss."

Facing Yin Sheng's questioning, Nangong Le curled his lips in disdain, turned over and jumped on the small cart, and wanted to tease him again, threw himself on Yin Sheng's back and hugged his neck, and blew into the other's ear and said, "Little Sheng Sheng, do you know how the barbarians form an army?"

"What are you doing, get off!" Yin Sheng blushed, it was really hard for him to accept being so intimately thrown on him by a man he knew not long ago!

Yin Sheng tugged Nan Gong Le's arm, remembering what he just asked, and hurriedly said: "The soldiers of the barbarians are young and middle-aged men recruited from various tribes. What does this have to do with business? Hey, don't be too excited. Too much!"

While speaking, Nangong Le had turned around and sat on Yin Sheng's lap, smiling and hugging his neck.

This boy is slightly petite compared to himself, but his strength is not small at all, he can't push it away!And the more he pulled, the harder Nangong Le's legs clamped around his waist became, it was like...

Yin Sheng, who had never been so close to anyone before, was so embarrassed that his neck was red. He tried his best to grab Nangong Le's clothes, trying to pull the "leech" off his body.

However, Nangong Le seemed to feel nothing, and said with a smile: "Xiao Shengsheng, don't refuse him──Xiao Shengsheng, then tell me how their spoils are distributed?"

"Except for looting after entering the city, the rest is calculated according to military merit—you let go!"

"No!" Nangong Le sticks out his tongue, "You are right, except for the looting after entering the city, it is military merit. The tribe just now is very small, the whole tribe has less than 200 members, and there are only five to sixty young and middle-aged men. For them, a war might cost them all their labor, but most of the benefits would go to the big tribes.”

"In addition, during the truce, those big tribes will also come to them to rob, and they have no ability to resist without their labor force. Therefore, for this small tribe, if it is not impossible to survive, they are not willing to start a war at all."

Yin Sheng's attention was attracted by the other party's words. While thinking, the strength in his hands gradually weakened. After thinking for a while, he was still puzzled, "So what? Even if you let them live a stable life and make them lose However, it is the big tribes that lead the war, and the small tribes can only be forced to obey the orders of the big tribes, and the war will not stop.”

"This is related to the composition of the barbarian army."

"composition?"

"That's right, don't look at a small tribe with only a few dozen warriors, while a large tribe has hundreds of warriors, but a large tribe has only one or two, and a small tribe has hundreds, so in fact, the small tribe occupies The strength of the barbarian army is nearly [-]%, but it is impossible for the small tribes to know this situation, they will only feel that they have only a few dozen people, while the big tribes have hundreds of people, so they cannot defeat the big tribes.”

Nangong Le drew a schematic diagram on his palm with her fingertips while explaining.

Yin Sheng gradually became engrossed in listening, and completely forgot that the two were still embracing each other in an ambiguous posture, and even felt that the other party seemed to be slipping away from his lap, so he subconsciously helped the boy to get closer, a little He also didn't notice that the corner of the boy's mouth raised a snicker while he was speaking seriously.

He thought for a long time, then shook his head and said, "I know what you mean. You want to use the small tribes to deal with the big tribes. But you also said that the small tribes are war-weary, and you don't understand the situation of the big tribes. Now you have given them a stable Life, even if the big tribes rob them of their supplies, as long as they can survive, they will not resist, and these small tribes are too scattered, how can you twist the people of these hundreds of tribes into one rope? No way , can’t do it.”

Yin Sheng felt that he had caught up with the boy's jumping thinking, but he didn't expect that the other party shook his head repeatedly, denying his guess.

"No, no, you're wrong. I don't want the small tribe to attack the big tribe by itself. It's impossible, and it's impossible to unite them by myself. If I come forward as an outsider, it will easily arouse their suspicion and resentment."

"Then what are you going to do?"

"Guess what?" Nangong Le winked playfully.

Yin Sheng couldn't help but smiled wryly, how could he guess this, he followed the other party's train of thought and disappeared without a trace, how could he find the answer.

"You can't guess, tell me." He asked helplessly.The conclusion that Nangong Le hid was too tempting, so he had to compromise.

But this time Nangong Le was not so kind, he hooked Yin Sheng's neck again, his red lips slightly curled up, and exhaled Ruolan, "Kiss me, I'll tell you."

Yin Sheng was startled, and finally realized that the two of them were hugging each other in an extremely intimate posture, and the waist was tightly clamped by the young man's slender legs, filled with a delicate fragrance, and what made him feel even more ashamed was that his hand was inadvertently touching each other. It has already slipped onto the opponent's buttocks──it was the result of a casual support when he felt that the opponent was about to fall!

His handsome face instantly turned liver-colored, he withdrew his hand in shame and annoyance, and started fighting with the "human leech" again.

"Young Master Tong, you, you let go! You are really... disrespectful, disrespectful! Stop it!" Yin Sheng shouted loudly.

Although he has been in the army for many years, he has never been able to learn the filthy language in the barracks. What he was proud of before, but now he is very annoyed. Facing Nangong Le's excessive behavior, he couldn't find a strong one. He almost scolded him with such words as "disobedience to women"──Damn Tong Le is a man.

Nangong Le used the spirit of a sloth hugging a tree, and no matter how much Yin Sheng pulled him, he giggled happily, while the villain complained first: "Xiao Shengsheng, you are too bad! After using him, he will kill him!" Kick it away! My family is so sad!"

Yin Sheng almost spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Tong Le! What kind of woman are you pretending to be like a man?! Get the hell out of here!"

Nangong Le finally let Yin Sheng go before he was blown up in anger, turned over and jumped on the horse, leaving behind a string of smug laughter and left.

Yin Sheng was depressed, sat cross-legged for a while, and suddenly realized that the lingering fragrance of the young man still remained on his body, which couldn't be removed no matter how much he patted, and his complexion became even darker.

In the end, Nangong Le didn't say what's the use of provoking the small tribe, Yin Sheng could only think to himself──he didn't want to face the bad jokes of the young people again!

The caravan was still marching in the desert. In seven or eight days, he traveled through more than 20 small tribes. Yin Sheng's injuries were gradually healed during the stop-and-go, and the means of transportation finally became from a small cart. the horse.

A few days later, the caravan arrived at a large tribe named Nasa.

The scene of thousands of people living together is completely different from that of hundreds of people. There are countless white tents in a row, and there are countless numbers. The noise of children, the sound of women talking, and the rough shouting of men can be heard. , The neighing of cattle and horses, all kinds of sounds combined into a lively scene, refreshed the spirits of the merchants who had been walking in the dry desert for a long time.

Seeing the arrival of the caravan, some people from the tribe also came out to welcome them. This time they were a few young men. The ornaments on their bodies let Yin Sheng know that these people were nobles.

The leading young nobleman said in blunt Central Plains language: "The Tong family caravan has been waiting for you for a long time!"

Nangong Le did not show up, but pulled up the scarf to cover most of her face.

On the caravan side, a middle-aged man came forward, he cupped his hands and said with a smile: "The road is difficult, His Royal Highness Santan has been waiting for a long time."

The noble youth stepped forward to pull people, and said with a smile: "You people from the Central Plains just talk a lot of nonsense! Come on, we have been waiting for you for a long time, have you brought all the things we agreed to last time? We have prepared a lot of good things. "

"Bring it all, bring it all..."

Some people in the caravan followed the noble youths, and some people bought things from ordinary people. Yin Sheng originally wanted to follow the nobles to have a look, but he saw Nangong Le leaving the team alone, so he followed after thinking about it.

Nangong Le seemed to be walking casually, chatting with the old people sitting outside the tent, they spoke the barbarian language, Yin Sheng couldn't understand, so he just stood aside and watched, and then Nangong Le chatted with women, children and even all kinds of people people talk.Everyone seemed to like Nangong Le very much, and they chatted with him for a long time.

It wasn't until he was left alone that Yin Sheng stepped forward and walked side by side with him, and asked casually, "Why are you covering your face? There is no wind and sand here."

Nangong Lebai glanced at him, "I look so shameless and shameless, what should I do if I don't cover it up and get caught by these barbarians?"

Yin Sheng had never seen such a shameless person, he was speechless and could only change the subject, "What were you doing just now?"

"I'm understanding the enemy's situation." Nangong Le said casually, kicking the grass beside her feet.

Yin Sheng was startled and said, "What? Could it be that what I talked to you just now was all your work?"

"What kind of work, they are ordinary people in this tribe." Nangong Le kicked the man's calf, expressing his dissatisfaction with his ignorance, "Talk to them to know the current situation of their tribe."

"Then what's the status of the tribe now?"

"Now...hehe, the nobles have exploited the people to the extreme for pleasure. This year's harvest of cattle, sheep and grain is not very good, and judging from the weather, this year's white disaster may be particularly serious. There is also the main battle and the main peace. The two factions of nobles have developed from a face-to-face rivalry. In the end, the heroic and far-sighted leader is getting older. Cai—here, it’s that Santan who came out just now, but his eldest son is a troublesome one.”

Yin Sheng found it strange, "The barbarians are young but not grown?"

"It's true to say that, but the matter of succession depends on who has the biggest fist. The eldest son is a relatively capable person, and he has the support of the main combat faction in the clan. Even if the system is inherited by the youngest son, he has mastered With more than [-]% of the clan's combat power, it's hard to say who will win in the end."

Yin Sheng was silent, Nangong Le's words made him feel that he really knew too little about the barbarians.He didn't know anything about what the other party said, and it wasn't that he hadn't thought of sending someone to check on the internal situation of the barbarians. It was just who and how to send someone to check, but many staff and generals couldn't think of a good way—to send the caravan Being a candidate was never in their consideration.

After walking two steps, Yin Sheng saw a Han man not far away with a man who looked like an elder, and asked curiously, "Who is that man? It doesn't seem to belong to our caravan."

Nangong Le took a look and replied, "Elder He Da's staff."

Yin Sheng was surprised, "But he is an eternal man?"

"How can there not be a perpetual traitor among tens of millions of perpetual people?"

Nangong Le rolled his eyes at him, and wanted to continue to say something, but Yin Sheng suddenly pulled up his collar to cover his face, and hurriedly whispered: "Young Master Tong, let's go to the side."

Nangong Le stopped talking, and walked in another direction with him according to his words, and only asked when he was far away, "What's wrong?"

"That person is the one who attacked me that day! He is very tall and very conspicuous! And his face, I can't mistake it!"

Yin Sheng chatted to the side, and an exceptionally tall figure passed out of the corners of their eyes.

Nangong Le rubbed his nose and said, "That man is the number one warrior of this tribe, named Tamumu."

"Does that mean that the people who attacked me were from this tribe?"

"Probably so. Tamumu is one of the core figures of the main combat faction. He led the most elite warrior team in the tribe. I think the person who attacked you was that team. I don't know if it is..."

The last half of the sentence Nangong Le murmured with his head down, Yin Sheng didn't hear clearly, but when he was about to ask, the other party suddenly raised his head and looked at him.

"Hey, you cover your face so that people won't recognize it. It will be hard to handle then."

Nangong Le took off her scarf and wrapped it around Yin Sheng.He stood on tiptoe slightly, and the two got closer, and a faint fragrance penetrated into Yin Sheng's nose.Yin Sheng was attracted by this unexpected fragrance and looked over, suddenly found that the other party's fair face was less than a fist away from him, at such a close distance, he could only see the other party's long and curled eyelashes slapping in front of his eyes, Like two small fans.

Yin Sheng stared in a daze, somehow felt that Tong Le was much prettier than many women.

The scarf had already been wrapped up, covering half of Yin Sheng's face below the eyes, and it was only a matter of tying a knot at the end. At this moment, Nangong Le suddenly grabbed both ends of the scarf and pulled Yin Sheng abruptly to the before.

The tips of the noses were close together, and even the lips almost touched. The young man who felt peaceful just now showed a weird smile like a devil.

"What are you looking at so fascinated by? Do you think I'm good-looking?" Nangong Le said with a smile, deliberately blowing air on the man's face, not unexpectedly seeing the man's face flushed.

"What nonsense are you talking..."

Yin Sheng was extremely embarrassed, struggling to get rid of the other party's shackles, but Nangong Le was still very strong, and the scarf was wrapped around his neck, the more he struggled, the more uncomfortable he became.Yin Sheng had no choice but to turn his head slightly, trying to avoid the faint fragrance from Nangong Le's body.

Why is the man smelling so fragrant!Yin Sheng thought angrily.

Nangong Le put her face in front of him again in an extremely bad manner, bent her mouth, her black jade-like eyes gleamed with water, and said seriously but also jokingly: "Xiao Shengsheng, don't be shy, you like me Let’s just say it, it’s so boring to sneak a peek. We’re all grown-ups, so if you see something right, just go straight to the woods.”

Yin Sheng didn't understand, "What are you looking for in the woods?"

Nangong smiled suddenly, "You are good or bad, I want someone to explain it clearly. Of course the reason for looking for the woods is to do something happy!"

Yin Sheng was startled for a moment, and then he realized that his handsome face was blushing almost to the point of bleeding.

Nangong Le laughed and let go, tied the scarf casually, patted him on the shoulder, and said cheerfully: "I'm just kidding, look at your seriousness! You will follow me later, act as My guard, otherwise it would be strange even in the desert with your face covered like this."

"...Understood!" Yin Sheng replied angrily, feeling angry again.

The purchase of the caravan didn't end until the evening. Nangong Le and Yin Sheng quietly mingled in the crowd without showing their faces. The group of people prepared to leave with all kinds of goods, but Yin Sheng felt a cold gaze on his back. , he didn't dare to turn around hastily, and only when the caravan came out of the tribe and just turned a corner, he secretly glanced sideways.As expected, it was Tamumu's eyes full of rage that stared at him.

Nangong Le seemed to have noticed it, and said in a low voice, "Did he recognize you?"

"...Probably!" Yin Sheng sighed.This is not good news. Although he is not afraid of the number one warrior, he is with a caravan instead of an army. If the other side really makes any moves, this caravan...

"I don't know if it will cause trouble to you..." Yin Sheng murmured, full of apology.

Nangong Le smiled and said: "You have a conscience. Don't worry, if he really dares to come, I will kill him to death!"