Eighty percent of the territory of Wuwei County is desert, and one of the four major deserts in later generations of China is located here.

The Tengger Desert runs through almost the entire Wuwei County. Rao, there are still many nomadic tribes here.

This is so because there is a river that runs through the entire Great Desert from south to north. In this Gobi, it is precisely because of the irrigation of Lu water that many lakes and oases have appeared in the desert.

Wuwei County belongs to the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, one of the four counties of Longxi. Due to the large-scale westward migration policy at that time, the Han people have already taken deep roots in this place for hundreds of years.

However, due to the constant rebellion of the Qiang people, they continued to raid villages, burn houses, and trample on fields, resulting in fewer and fewer Han Chinese in Wuwei County.

Many Han Chinese were either captured as slaves by the Qiang people, or they gathered together and became sand thieves who frightened the Qiang people. There were also some powerful people who built strong Wu forts to defend against the Qiang.

In the Tengger Desert, the most important, fertile and fertile piece of land is Hutuze in the north of Wuwei County.

Hutu Ze is the terminus of the Mother River of Wuwei County, and although it is located in the very center of the desert, its water source never runs dry. Not only that, but there are also carp in Hutuze, and there are many species of birds such as wild ducks and swans on the lake.

The lake is surrounded by a flat grassland. On the grassland, there are herds of cattle and sheep, and camels roam. It is a miracle in the desert and a sacred place longed for by nomads.

Hutuze is an inland lake, and it is extremely rich in salt. Even if you stand on a high place and look at it from a distance, you can see the salt chimneys that are piled up like snow and ice around the lake.

Ulu was a warrior who lived in a small Qiang tribe near Hutuze. This Qiang tribe has more than 300 people, of which only about 100 are strong men.

As a nomadic people, almost all of them are soldiers. However, the able-bodied men of the tribe will have more privileges than others.

Today's sky is clear, and the sky is as blue as a sapphire crystal, which is fascinating.

Ulu came to Hutuze's side and looked at the vast desert, desolate, vast and majestic. The undulating sand dunes for thousands of miles, like solidified waves, are high and low.

The roughness and softness of the desert show its extraordinary charm.

Whenever he saw the scene in front of him, Ulu couldn't help but shout loudly. It didn't take long for him to notice the dry grass and trees everywhere, and his eyes suddenly darkened.

"Winter is already here, and it won't be long before the hay here will be eaten by the cattle and sheep. It seems that the tribe is about to leave this beautiful place. ”

Thinking of this, Uru felt a wave of disappointment in his heart. The cold wind blew, and he couldn't help but sneeze.

Tightening the thick woolen coat wrapped tightly around his body, he looked at a figure lying on the edge of the lake picking up salt, and couldn't help but scold: "Damn Han slave, move so slowly!" ”

When he had finished scolding, he picked up his whip and strode over.

"Smack!"

The whip slammed down on the thin body, and Ulu opened his mouth, revealing a mouth full of big yellow teeth, and scolded, "Damn slave, don't be lazy, hurry up and pick up salt!" ”

The horsewhip tossed the Han slave to the ground, and a trail of bright red blood appeared on him. His thin body shivered in the cold wind.

"You lazy Han slave, what are you shaking? Why don't you hurry up and pick up the salt! ”

Uru scolded angrily as he raised his right foot and kicked the Han slave hard.

During this time, due to the emergence of the 'Qiang Killing Order', Ulu became even more disgusted with the Han people. Therefore, he even thought of a way to torture his Han slaves.

"Get up, get up, didn't you hear me?"

Ulu kicked the Han slave a few times harder, and found him lying motionless on the ground, and couldn't help but be even more angry.

He raised his horsewhip and was about to whip the Han slave again, when suddenly his heart moved, and he squatted down and touched the face of the Han slave.

"Dead, dead?"

Feeling his hand as if it had touched a cold stone, Uru couldn't help but feel a little flustered.

Although he hated the Han people, he did not treat his slaves as human beings, and desperately abused them. However, this slave is his personal property after all, and if he dies like this, he will be somewhat distressed.

After all, now due to the emergence of the 'Hu Killing Order', many Han people have attacked the Qiang people like crazy. Many Qiang people did not dare to plunder the Han people again.

Ulu only has Huang Kai as a Han slave, if Huang Kai dies like this, he doesn't know when and when he can get a Han slave again.

Although Ulu looked down on Han slaves, he also knew that they were ingenious and could do many things that the Qiang people could not do. Among the Qiang tribes, being able to own Han slaves is also a symbol of status.

He didn't give up, and continued to probe Huang Kai's snort with his fingers, but he couldn't feel the flow of air in a hurry.

"Damn, damn it, I would have given him more food and more clothes if I knew it would have done so."

Ulu muttered a few words in annoyance, picked up the salt collected by Huang Kai, and rode directly to the tribe.

"Woohoo! Whew! ”

It didn't take long for the howls of wolves to sound in the grassland.

In the cold winter, even the heavily armed Ulu will find it difficult to escape in the face of hungry wolves. It can be expected that when the wolves see Huang Kai's corpse, he will definitely end up with no bones.

"Chirp!"

Just as the wolves were about to pounce on Huang Kai's corpse, a rain of arrows shot out, and several wild wolves fell in response. The rest of the wolves knew the power of their bows and arrows, and they looked at the man on his horse with a bow in the distance, howled a few times, and turned to flee.

"Haha, there's meat to eat again tonight!"

The big men on their horses with bows laughed a few times and went to collect the carcasses of the wolves.

"Huh? There seems to be a man there! ”

A big man looked at Huang Kai lying on the ground in the distance and shouted.

"Sonorous!"

When the rest of the people heard this, they suddenly pulled out the weapons in their hands and formed a semi-encircled formation, vigilantly walking towards Huang Kai's corpse.

This group of big men is the sand thieves of Wuwei County, and they came to the shore of Hutuze Lake this time to investigate the reality of the Qiang tribe. There are not a few Qiang tribes here, and as sand thieves who are the sworn enemies of the Qiang people, they can't but act cautiously.

More than a dozen people came to Huang Kai's body, and after seeing his face, someone said: "Look at his outfit, he should be a Han slave." ”

A sand thief, who seemed to be the leader, immediately put away his weapon and said, "Since they are Han Chinese, they are not our enemies. ”

After speaking, he squatted down to check on Huang Kai's body.

I have to say that the current Huang Kai is already extremely weak. If it weren't for the great Han's rich experience, he might not be able to detect Huang Kai's faint snort at all, just like Ulu.

"One more breath, save him!"

Dahan hurriedly took off his thick coat and wrapped Huang Kai's body with it. Then, he asked people to bring dry food and water and feed Huang Kai personally.

"Damn the Qiang people, they are so vicious!"

A sand thief with a scar on his face couldn't help but scold out loud when he looked at Huang Kai's thin clothes and body covered with whip marks.

The leader of the sand thieves looked at the salt and alkali not far away, and immediately said: "This place is not suitable for a long time, let's go back first." ”

He wrapped Huang Kai tightly in his clothes, carried him to the war horse, stayed away from Hutu Ze, and ran into the desert outside the grassland.

……

The desert is not full of yellow sand, there will always be some large and small oases, tenaciously rooted in the desert.

This tiny oasis was inhabited by three to five hundred people, the vast majority of whom were able-bodied men, and a small number of old people, women, and children.

The cold wind blows, and the sand and stones ripple with the oasis.

The sound of hurried horses' hooves came, and the leader of the sand thieves who saved Huang Kai led dozens of sand thieves to this oasis, breaking the peace inside.

"Second brother, you're back!"

A tall, bear-backed man, when he heard the sound of horses' hooves, stepped out of his tent and shouted to the leader of the sand bandits.

This big man is the big boss of the sand thieves, named Tang Peng.

Tang Peng was originally from Wuwei County, the son of a man who raised horses. He didn't want the Qiang people to rebel later, killed his entire family, and snatched all the horses of Tang Peng's father.

Fortunately, Tang Peng rode out to practice riding at that time, and he escaped the catastrophe.

Tang Peng, who returned home, was immediately grief-stricken when he saw his family die tragically. He buried his family and disappeared.

It wasn't until two years later that a group of crazy, murderous sand appeared in Hutuze. The name Tang Peng was only known to the Zhongduoqiang people.

Although this group of sand thieves is extremely cruel and ferocious to the Qiang people, they have never committed any crimes against ordinary Han people. However, if any Han Chinese dared to collude with the Qiang, they would also be slaughtered by the sand thieves.

Over the years, there have been as many as 500 Han people who have colluded with the Qiang people at the hands of Tang Peng and them.

Of course, the sand pirates also have to survive, and if life is too embarrassing, they will also find some Han heroes to attack and rob them of their money and food.

Therefore, this group of sand thieves led by Tang Peng is notorious among both the Qiang people and the Han people.

"Brother, save people quickly!"

The second master hugged Huang Kai off the war horse and shouted loudly.

Tang Peng was shocked in his heart, and hurriedly said, "Could it be that a brother is injured?" ”

As soon as he finished shouting, he quickly glanced at the returning sand thieves, and was relieved to see that everyone was there. Although Tang Peng is a notorious sand thief, he cares for his subordinates.

Only those who have really come into contact with Tang Peng will be attracted by his personality charm.

The second master said: "Brother, it's not that the brothers are injured, we picked up a dying little brother next to Hugh Tuze." Judging by his appearance, he should have been taken away by the Qiang people as a slave. ”

Still indignant, Scarface said, "These damned Qiang people, one day I will kill them all!" ”

Scar was also a former slave and suffered all kinds of horrific abuse. If Tang Peng hadn't saved him, I'm afraid Scar would have died a long time ago.

As a result, Scarface is very resentful of the Qiang people.