"Sparrow? Who? Zheng Peng said with a puzzled expression.

Kuro lowered his voice and said: "In Turgish, there is a magical family, it is said that they can understand the language of birds, and they are good at raising golden vultures, because this family is the house slave of the tribal leader, and only listens to the orders of the tribal leader for generations, so it is also called the finch slave, the golden vulture domesticated by the finch slave can not only track and attack the prey when hunting, but also patrol the territory and monitor the enemy. ”

Golden vultures?

Isn't that another name for the golden eagle?

Zheng Peng knew that there were many eagles in the Western Regions, such as golden eagles, peregrine falcons, swallow falcons, falcons, vultures and other birds of prey, and the golden vulture was just one of them.

I didn't expect that there was such a talent under Landuo.

Tubo is ready to smuggle the proceeds of this plunder back to Tubo, and the information is available, but the time and route of their departure can be a headache, which is the most unpredictable factor, if there is a golden vulture that can be watched unconsciously in the sky, the success rate will be greatly improved.

Finally understood why Curro deliberately leaked the news as soon as he saw Lando, and then tried his best to win her over, it turned out to be the idea of looking for her subordinate finch.

The longer he was in the Western Regions, the more he understood, and the more helpless Zheng Peng became about the situation in the Western Regions.

There is a very interesting story in later generations, a nomadic employee, went back to ask for a few more days off during the Chinese New Year, said that he wanted to go home to accompany his relatives more, seeing that the holiday was over and people had not returned to the company, the leader called him to ask when he would return, but he did not expect him to say that he was still looking for his home on the prairie, because he did not know where his family went to graze.

The story is a bit dramatic, but it also shows the characteristics of the vast and sparsely populated Western Regions, the Tang Dynasty is nominally the lord of the Western Regions, but in fact the control is insufficient, mainly because the environment here is average, the property is not abundant, and the little tax collected is not worth the expenses, in the eyes of the imperial court, it is a barren land, not worth operating carefully, this is the reason why the imperial court wantonly crowned the king and the khan in the Western Regions, and handed over the place to them to take care of.

Tibet is on the plateau, equivalent to the Tibet region of later generations, and the location of Pakhana is in the valley of the middle reaches of the Syr Darya River, that is, the Ferghana region of Kyrgyzstan in later generations.

The main thing is to set up military camps in important military towns or densely populated places, and as for those deserted places, that is, to patrol occasionally, or to treat where there is a problem, such a system as in the Central Plains will not work here.

When Zheng Peng was thinking about the couplet, Guo Ziyi expressed: "The county lord's character is good and trustworthy, third brother, our number is too small, with the help of the golden vulture, it is simply like a tiger with wings." ”

"Yes, this matter will be brought to the county lord." Zheng Peng nodded in agreement.

I was afraid of her joining just now, but now I'm afraid she won't join.

It's a bit reluctant to get a share than not getting it, missing an opportunity in vain, and it's better to score less than not to score at all.

After the three of them agreed, they quickly pulled the confused Landor into the barracks.

After Lando reassured that he would not leak the secret, Kuro told Lando the matter succinctly.

"Kuro Aha, is this true?" Landuo's big beautiful eyes widened.

"Am I looking like I'm joking?"

Zheng Peng said very simply: "This is true, county lord, you just say that you will not participate." ”

"Participating, such a good thing, it's stupid not to participate." After Lan Duo finished speaking, his eyes rolled, and he quickly said: "There is a saying that after saying it first, don't mess up, after you get it, how to divide the goods?" ”

In this operation, he repeatedly stated in advance that he could not leak it, that is, he could not pull his own people, and Lan Duo didn't want to do it with just one red envelope, so he took the initiative to bring it up in advance.

If it was just him, he would definitely not be able to share much, and after hearing that he was going to use his own finch slaves, Lan Duo immediately realized that this was an opportunity.

Seeing that Zheng Peng didn't express his position, Guo Ziyi had no choice but to stand up: "According to the usual practice in the army, they are all divided into three, three, four, and thirty, and thirty percent belong to the main general, that is, the third brother accounts for three percent, and three percent are middle-level generals, that is, me, the second brother, and the county lord, and the remaining forty percent are used for bereavement and rewarding the soldiers below, what do you think?" ”

"What? Zheng Peng takes 30% alone? We're only going to get 10%? Lando said with some dissatisfaction.

"Landuo, be quiet" Kuro hurriedly explained: "This matter is the information obtained by the third brother, the soldier is the third brother's escort, even if he goes to ambush, he can also go in the name of the third brother, if there is no him, this thing can't be done at all, thirty percent is less, some ruthless, that's six two two points, get less, and one percent is not a lot, if you don't want the help of the bird slave, you don't have to think about this one." ”

Guo Ziyi added on the side: "Actually, it is reasonable for the third brother to take half of it, and the third brother took so much money and grain to reward the soldiers..."

Zheng Peng said categorically: "First according to the usual practice, see what the situation is when you get it, and then adjust it, if you don't get it, you will have a red face and a thick neck, there is no need." ”

"Okay, according to the norm, according to the norm." Lan Duo glanced at Zheng Peng and said a little unhappily.

There was some reluctance in his heart, but Kuro said so, and besides, the routine in the army was the same, and Landuo couldn't change it.

After reaching an agreement for the time being, Kuroma asked, "Rando, where is your finch?" ”

"Bring him, leave him in the city of Qiuzi, and now summon him?"

"Let him come, I want to see how good this finch slave is." Zheng Peng grabbed it and said.

Lan Duo glanced at Zheng Peng a little arrogantly, didn't say much, turned around and walked out of the barracks, and casually called a guard to whisper a few words, the guard quickly turned over and got on the horse, and disappeared at the bend of the road after a while.

In less than an hour, a young man who was a little tall and thin, about twenty-five years old, and dressed a little strangely, half-knelt and saluted Zheng Peng: "Bai Que Nu has seen Zheng Jianjun. ”

Saying that he was weird, it was because the young man in front of him was too special, wearing a thick silk suit, draped in a shoulder made of feathers, with a long, leather-like sleeve hanging from his waist, and a strange wooden frame on his left shoulder, that temperament, not very human-like.

Like a birdman.

"White Sparrow?" Zheng Peng said with some surprise.

Didn't you say the finch? Suddenly ran out of a white finch slave, this person's hair is not white, the difficulty is that his surname is white?

Kuro explained in a whisper: "Third brother, the bird slave is the title of the head of the family, in addition to the head of the family, the other family members are named after the type or color characteristics of their domesticated birds, for example, the bird raised is red, called the cardinal slave, the bird raised is a vulture, called the bald bird, etc., I know the one in front of me, he raised a golden vulture with a pinch of white hair on his head, so he is called the white bird slave." ”

After a pause, Kuro added: "The finch slave generally only obeys the orders of the chief, and the rest of the clansmen who can raise finches are arranged according to their relatives, and this white finch slave's ability to raise finches is second only to the head of the family. ”

It turned out to be like this, Zheng Peng suddenly realized, and hurriedly said: "So that's the case, please get up." ”

The white finch slave thanked him and stood aside.

Zheng rubbed his hands together and said, "Which one, I haven't seen the golden vulture yet, the white finch slave, can you show your hand?" ”

As if he hadn't heard, the White Sparrow Slave stood quietly and didn't speak.

It was clear that he was only following the orders of Rando alone.

Zheng Peng was a little speechless, so he had to make a gesture of invitation to Lan Duo: "I heard from the second brother, the county lord's finch slave is very powerful, since we have cooperated, the county lord, let us also see it, and have a bottom in our hearts." ”

"Good to say" Seeing that Zheng Peng took the initiative to ask for himself, Yun Duo was a little happy in his heart, and turned his head to Bai Que Nu and said, "Call Xiaobai back." ”

The white bird slave answered, and then exited the barracks, Zheng Peng knew that he was going to call the golden vulture outside, and hurriedly followed out.

Out of the open space outside the barracks, Bai Que Nu gently pinched his lower lip with the thumb and forefinger of his right hand, and made a sharp sound, making two long and one short crisp calls, and screamed several times in a row.

"Look, here it is." Kuro said suddenly, pointing to the sky.

Zheng Peng looked up, yes, he saw a black dot from far to near, getting bigger and bigger, and soon saw a bird similar to an eagle, circling in the sky with long wings, and then flying straight in the direction of the white bird.

Seeing that he was about to fly, he saw the white finch slave pull it casually, pull up the sleeve around his waist, and put it on his left hand.

It turned out to be a leather glove.

After a while, Zheng Peng felt a flower in front of him, and a big bird fell on the left hand of the white bird slave wearing leather gloves and holding it high, and the white bird slave made a whistle in his mouth, and his right hand naturally took out a piece of unknown things in the bag on his waist and threw it gently, the golden vulture stretched its neck, grabbed it like lightning, raised its neck, and swallowed it at once.

When the white finch slave saw that the golden vulture had finished eating, he gently put his left hand and placed the golden vulture on the wooden strip on his left shoulder.

The long leather gloves and the wooden strips on the shoulders are actually the aids used to tame the golden vultures.

At this time, Zheng Peng saw the golden vulture on the shoulder of the white bird slave, and couldn't help but sigh: "What a golden vulture." ”

This golden vulture domesticated by the white finch slave has a black-gray hair, the coat color is very shiny, the feathers from the back head to the back of the neck are long and long, willow-shaped, the feather base is dark russet, the feather end is golden yellow, with black-brown feather dry lines, the chest and abdomen are also black-brown, the feather shaft pattern is lighter, the overleg feathers, the undertail overfeathers and the underwing overfeathers and axillary feathers are dark brown, and the overleg feathers have red longitudinal stripes.

The most conspicuous thing is the small white hair on its head, which is the origin of the name of the white finch.

Lan Duo called this golden vulture Xiaobai, and the name sounded a little cute, but it gave Zheng Peng the feeling that it was not "cute", but "fierce".

The adult golden vulture has a total length of 76-102 cm, a wingspan of 2.3 meters, and a weight of 2-6.5 kilograms, but the golden vulture in front of him, Zheng Peng's visual body length is more than 130 cm, and the wingspan is more than three meters.