The imperial envoy team walked in the middle, with elite soldiers from the left vanguard in front and behind. Fang Jie opened the curtains of the carriage and looked outside. The more he looked, the more uneasy he felt. The Sui Dynasty was short of war horses, and there were only a few cavalry teams among the soldiers of each guard. But the 4,000 men and horses that Luo Yao brought to Anlai County were a pure cavalry team, and there were even 500 heavy armored cavalry.
The heavy armored cavalry¡¯s combat power is astonishing and its cost is equally astonishing. The requirements for knights and horses are very high. War horses need thoroughbreds that can carry a load of 230 to 40 kilograms and can run, because the heavy cavalry are all tall and sturdy men, and no one weighs less than 150 kilograms. Coupled with the heavy chain armor, Plus the heavy cavalry's horse sword and the full armor of the war horse, the total would not be less than 230 to 40 kilograms.
Fang Jie was born in the frontier army. He knew that the real elite soldiers were not combat soldiers but frontier soldiers. Although the soldiers are known as the most combat-effective army in the Sui Dynasty, most of them have not experienced a war for more than twenty years. The soldiers who had destroyed Shang had changed a lot. Even if they trained hard on weekdays, they still lacked the cold killing intent without having experienced blood training.
The border army is different. The border army not only has to guard the border but is also responsible for cleaning up the horse thieves and bandits on the border. There are battles of various sizes almost every year. No matter how sharp the horizontal knife is without being stained with blood, it cannot be considered a killing weapon.
Precisely because Fang Jie was born in the border army, he knew better how to identify whether an army had combat effectiveness. It can be seen at a glance that the cavalry under Luo Yao's command have been battle-hardened for a long time. They still maintained a high degree of alert when the team moved forward, and the formation was not scattered at all.
?If you observe carefully, you will find that every team can distinguish them and can respond quickly even if they are suddenly attacked.
The thing that caught Fang Jie's attention the most was naturally the 500-man heavy armored cavalry. Fang Jie had been in Fangu for three years and had only heard that there was a heavy armored cavalry under the command of Right Xiaowei Li Yuanshan, but he had never seen it. There is also a heavy armor force in the Imperial City. Fang Jie has seen it but is sure that those soldiers who look majestic and mighty have never killed anyone. The heavy armor in the Taiji Palace is more of a visual thing, and it may not be able to exert its indestructible power if it is really used on the frontier battlefield.
So this is the first time that Fang Jie has seen heavy armored cavalry that can go into battle to kill the enemy in a real sense. Not only does it have an extremely shocking visual impact, but the domineering look on those soldiers, and the look on their faces This kind of pride is what interests Fang Jie the most.
Heavy armored cavalry, when driven on the battlefield, are like armored vehicles with full power. Once they form an attack formation and increase their speed, almost no team can defend it.
The left forward under Luo Yao is not only the largest number of soldiers in the Sixteenth Guards, but also definitely at the forefront in terms of combat power. The Sixth Army of the Emperor is said to be the strongest among the soldiers, but if there is a life-and-death showdown, the Sixth Army of the Emperor may not necessarily have the upper hand.
No wonder the emperor is so scrupulous about Luo Yao!
Fang Jie sighed in his heart, with such a great general and such an army, no one else would be able to be the emperor.
But now the court has nothing to do with Luo Yao. The Ministry of War had never thought of transferring Luo Yao away from the southwest before, but it is obviously unjustifiable to transfer a guard of soldiers when there is no war. After the imperial court discovered that the strength of Luo Yao's left forward guard had reached an alarming level, it became even more difficult to mobilize them. No one can guarantee whether the transfer order will anger Luo Yao and force the general to go against the imperial court.
And once Luo Yao rebels, the harm will be far greater than Li Yuanshan's independence in the northwest.
As the army marched forward, Fang Jie's mind was constantly thinking about what kind of trouble he would encounter during his trip to Yongzhou. Judging from Luo Yao's current attitude, Fang Jie has no doubt that this loyal general may raise his flag of rebellion at any time.
What Fang Jie looks forward to most now is that Luo Yao must be honest during his time in Yongzhou.
If Luo Yao rebels, he has only three ways to go.
First, surrender to Luo Yao and follow him in rebellion, and you will live. But although Fang Jie was shocked by the strength in Luo Yao's hands, he didn't think he could succeed. After all, the strength in the emperor's hands was still much greater than that of Luo Yao. Fighting against the whole country from one corner has little chance of winning. Second, flee back to Chang'an immediately, if possible. Third, nine out of ten people will be caught and executed by Luo Yao's people on the way.
But what makes Fang Jie feel at ease is that there is no incentive for Luo Yao to rebel immediately. Luo Yao pretended not to know about Northwest's fiasco, which shows that this incident was not enough to make him feel that the opportunity had come. Otherwise, he would not pretend not to know, but would take advantage of it.
He has been thinking about this, while Shen Qingshan and Mu Xiaoyao in the other carriage have been struggling with whether Luo Yao is the same person back then.
Mu Xiaoyao rubbed his temples and carefully recalled what happened when that person walked into the mountain gate seventeen years ago.
"If one of us definitely knows that person's identitywho is it most likely?"
Shen Qingfan asked.
Mu Xiaoyao pointed to his nose: "Big Dog and I."
Shen Qing snorted and said, "But you are sure that you don't know that person's identity, so Big Dog is now the most likely person to know his identity."
"Big dog"
Mu Xiaoyao was silent for a while and suddenly remembered something: "Da Quan has been slovenly and downtrodden over the years, but he has always maintained a special habit Even if he is so hungry that he can't stand it, he is unwilling to cook by himself, even if his clothes are dirty. He can't see the original color and doesn't want to wash the clothes himself. Every time I talk about it, he will say something like a gentleman staying away from the kitchen. How does he look like a gentleman? "
"Gentleman"
Shen Qingshan murmured and repeated, thought for a while and said: "This is a common problem among people from wealthy families. They always feel that cooking and washing clothes by themselves is an intolerable and vulgar thing. If the big dog comes from a famous family, there are This kind of habit is nothing.¡±
"besides¡¡"
Mu Xiaoyao raised his head and looked at Shen Qingshan and said: "Da Quan said that his name was given by that person. It means that he and that person were already familiar with each other before we met Da Quan. Fang Jie asked Da Quan what he had His relatives were threatened by that person, and Da Quan said that he had a younger brother Da Quan also said that his brother's cultivation level was far higher than his. In that case, why didn't that man let his younger brother protect Fang Jie instead of Da Quan? Dog coming?"
"What kind of agreement did Big Dog have with that person in order to keep his brother alive!"
Shen Qingshan's eyes lit up.
"no¡¡"
Her face changed slightly: "In the past, Da Quan was by Fang Jie's side and worked hard, so Fang Jie had special trust in him. But if Da Quan really had any agreement with that person, and that person was really Luo Yao , then after arriving here, Big Dog may not be the same Big Dog as before! Fang Jie asked Big Dog and Qilin to take people to coordinate in secret. This is a loophole and Fang Jie must be reminded. "
"Will not¡¡"
Mu Xiaoyao said: "Da Quan will definitely not do anything sorry to Fang Jie. If he did, he would not burn everything with me on Fang Jie's fifteenth birthday."
"That was in Fangu, and this is Yongzhou."
Shen Qing fan stopped the carriage. She opened the curtain and jumped out: "Even if there is only a little doubt, you must be careful."
¡¡
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Anlai County
In an inconspicuous small restaurant, Da Quan and Zhui Shang sat face to face. The table in front of them was already full of rich dishes. Zhui Shang stood up and filled a glass of wine for Da Quan, then raised his own glass and said solemnly: "Brother, I have owed you so much over the past ten years, and I'm afraid I will never have the chance to repay you in this life. This glass I¡¯d like to drink to you We haven¡¯t seen each other for almost seventeen years, and you your hair has turned gray. "
The big dog smiled and drank the wine in the cup.
"There is something I must tell you, and then we can talk about our separation."
Da Quan put down his wine glass and looked outside: "Why aren't you worried about being recognized?"
"Everyone who knows me has been killed by Luo Yao, what should I be afraid of?"
Zhui Shang replied with a smile.
"Well what I want to say is exactly related to your people being killed by Luo Yao a while ago."
Seeing the solemn expression on the big dog's face, Chase Shang also sat up straight.
"Don't bother with Fang Jie, the imperial envoy sent by the imperial court to Yongzhou this time. To be honest, although I have been worried about you in my heart, I didn't plan to meet you. I'm afraid that because of you and me meeting each other, I will do something wrong for you. It will cause trouble. But if you attack the imperial envoy, I must come to you."
The big dog paused and continued: "This imperial envoy is the person I have been protecting for so many years."
"Why is eldest brother so nice to him?"
Zhui Shang was a little surprised. After a long silence, he nodded: "Since you said it, brother, I will naturally not trouble him again. At that time, I just had an idea and thought that this person could be used. But brother You¡¯ve been homeless for more than ten years because of him, don¡¯t you hate him?¡±
¡°I hated it at the beginning, but people are just so weird After we¡¯ve been together for too long, I lost my hatred.¡±
Catching up, he hummed and said, "I was still surprised at how you came back suddenly."
Da Quan smiled, looked at Zhui Shang's face and said with emotion: "Seventeen years apart??When we separated, you were still a teenager, and you didn't even dare to walk at night by yourself. More than ten years later, he is already a shrewd and capable man. "
"You haven't been with me for more than ten years, so I have to learn to do everything by myself."
He caught up and filled up the wine for Da Quan again: "Brother, how about we don't separate from each other in the future, can you come back and help me? I have been preaching in Pingshangdao for more than ten years, and now there are at least hundreds of thousands of believers. If it were me It¡¯s not difficult to start another incident. Even if we don¡¯t, we brothers can live a stable life with the wealth we have accumulated over the past ten years, and you don¡¯t have to take risks anymore.¡±
"That's what I was going to say."
The big dog looked at the wine in the glass, was silent for a while and asked, "You still can't put it down?"
Zhui Shang was startled and asked: "Brother, have you let it go?"
The big dog nodded: "After so many years, I have long since given up."
¡°I can¡¯t let it go, and I have never thought of letting it go.¡±
Da Quan frowned: "It has been more than 20 years. Even if you have been secretly preaching all these years, do you think you can achieve success with those stupid people, women and children? Luo Yao has been operating in the southwest for 20 years and has deep roots. The emperor of the Sui Dynasty He is not a stupid and unscrupulous person, and the people will not want to rebel against him. If you have hundreds of thousands of troops, I will not stop you. But that is not an army, it is just a group of unarmed farmers. Do you really think they can help! Do you realize your dream?¡±
Zhui Shang drank the wine in one gulp: "Brother, you let it go. In fact, I want to say that I am happy for you. This big burden is too heavy, and it makes people unable to breathe. But if you let it go, I can't even more Let it go. If we all let it go, then the roots will really be broken. As long as I live, I will never let it go I can listen to you in everything, but this matter I can't!"