Daqin: Zulong's Traveling Frog

Chapter 311 Own Claims
The black-armored warriors belong to the Khotan Royal Palace Guard and are directly under the king's command. All of them are warriors selected from a hundred and have a strong sense of honor.Although Niba was reluctant to modify it, he did not dare to disobey Prime Minister Zuo's order, so he could only respond: "Obey."

Aidi sent Niba away, and came back to report: "Sure enough, Li Shiqi is near us as the Prime Minister expected. When Niba and the others set off, he followed suit."

Mu Mu said: "Yes. Please ride a fast horse and ask him to come over, saying that I have something important to discuss with him."

Ai Di was taken aback, and asked, "Don't you set a trap first?"

Su Mu said: "No need, I have my own opinion."

He also ordered people to escort A Fei for interrogation.

A Fei always only said that he stole the Ye Mingzhu greedily.

Somogi ordered the warrior to take him aside for torture, and broke two whips until he passed out with bruises.

When Ai Di brought Li Shiqi into the Khotan camp, the warrior was dragging away the unconscious A Fei.Mu Mu asked Li Shiqi to sit on the thick blanket, and asked kindly: "Young Master followed us all the way, do you want to save Ah Fei?"

Li Shiqi didn't want to lie, and said, "Yes."

Sumu said: "How will the young master plan to save people?"

Li Shiqi said: "The Prime Minister's subordinates are all well-trained warriors. They marched and camped very well. I haven't thought of a perfect plan yet."

Mu Mu said: "I admire the young master's courage to stand up for a stranger who has never met before, but we have just walked out of Yumen Pass together, and the young master probably doesn't want to use force with us."

Li Shiqi said: "Yes, Prime Minister has kindness to me, I dare not forget."

Mu Mu said: "In this case, I have a suggestion, if the young master can persuade Ah Fei to tell him who told him where the Ye Mingzhu is hidden, I will hand him over to you, how about it?"

Li Shiqi turned his head and looked, A Fei was being tied to a big tamarisk tree by the warriors, his whole body was glowing red, whether it was stained with blood or the fire, his head was limply hanging on his chest, his whole body was lifeless, Said: "Okay, I'll try." Approaching the tamarisk tree, he called softly: "A Fei! A Fei!"

The samurai at the side saw that A Fei didn't respond, so he took a water bag and took a sip of water, spraying it on A Fei's face.A Fei shivered, woke up, and stammered: "No...no one...instructed me..."

Li Shiqi said, "What were you doing before the Loulan caravan left the customs?"

Ah Fei repeated dully: "What am I... doing?"

He had been tortured for days, with whiplashes all over his body, burning pain, and difficulty concentrating on thinking. He barely raised his head, looked at the new interrogator in front of him, and asked in confusion, "You...are you from the Central Plains?"

Li Shiqi said: "Yes, I am Han. I just want to tell you that I have no malicious intentions..."

Ah Fei suddenly remembered something, and exclaimed: "Ah, I recognize you...you...you are..."

His emotions suddenly became agitated, and he instinctively struggled hard, triggering the wound, and immediately passed out again.

The samurai was waiting to spray water again to wake Ah Fei up, when Li Shiqi stopped him and said, "For now, there's no need. He's seriously injured and can't escape, why don't you let him go first?"

The samurai did not dare to make decisions without authorization, but hesitated.Sumu came over and said: "As the young master asked, untie him first." The samurai replied: "Of order."

Mu Mu asked Li Shiqi to sit down in front of the tent again, and said with a smile, "I think A Fei has seen the graphic notice of Yumen Pass and recognized the appearance of the young master."

That Li Shiqi was the wanted man in the notice, and he was noncommittal, saying: "The prime minister knows that it is difficult to get the truth from Ah Fei, but he still tortures him all the way. Is it deliberately for others to see?"

Mu Mu said: "Yes, at first it was for Loulan people, and later it was for our own people."

Han Dao said: "I think the Prime Minister did not rely on this method to find out the traitor."

Mu Mu said: "That's right. What's your opinion, Young Master?"

Han Dao said: "Since the prime minister can be sure that there are no spies among the people of Khotan, there is no need to torture A Fei to observe the reaction of the people. I guess the Loulan caravan either thought that A Fei was a real thief, or that he was bought by Khotan long ago, so They will be indifferent to A Fei being dragged away. Since no one on the Khotan side leaked the secret, and no one on the Loulan side knew about it, then the person who told A Fei about the hiding place of the Yeming Pearl must be an outsider. As long as the prime minister allows me to tell A Fei, I should be able to find out this person."

After thinking about it for a while, Su Mu agreed: "Okay, young master will follow us. As long as you find out who that person is, you can take A Fei away immediately." Han Dao said: "It's a deal."

In the early morning of the next day, Khotan and his party continued on the road with A Fei and Han Xin, and Su Mu intentionally ordered to speed up the journey in order to completely throw off the Loulan caravan.It's just that Han Xin's plan is not going well. Ever since Ah Fei recognized him as the heinous gangster who was wanted by the Central Plains court, not only did he not say a word, he even refused to look at him.

After [-] or [-] days like this, the Eight Hundred Li Gobi finally came to an end, and stepped into the famous Bailongdui Desert, a peaceful and desolate world - the vast Shahe River, which stretches as far as the eye can see.

As far as the eye can see, it is pure golden yellow, reflecting a demure and gentle light in the sun.

Numerous sand patterns are layered on top of each other, swaying in circles, like ripples in the wind.People and horses trampled on the soft sand dunes, leaving deep footprints.

And not long after, the gust of wind rolled up the floating sand on the surface of the desert, smoothing out all the traces, making it as clean as new, like a virgin land that no one has ever been to.

The desert is not completely devoid of traces of life, and small clusters of red willows are scattered and rooted on the sand dunes.The trunk of this shrub is red, and the broken leaves stretch out like feathers. Although there is only a small clump above the ground, the underground root system is intertwined and extremely strong.

A red willow often has thousands of roots, which can hold a sand dune. It can be seen that its roots go deep into the ground, so it is called "tree spirit".

Although the new twigs and green leaves are often eaten by passing horses and camels, it is still growing tenaciously.In the depths of the desert, a touch of emerald green is hope and the surge in the depths of life.

At this moment, it is the flowering period of red willows, which are full of dense purple-red flowers. Although they are small, they are not weak. They are invincible in the wind, exuding fragrance and strong, confidently showing a unique style in the vast and empty desert. .

When I rested at Gongpo Spring that night, it was the night of the full moon, the moon was as bright as a silver plate, and the desert glowed with a strange silver color under the halo, like scales.Looking into the distance, one after another huge sand beams are like white dragons, cruising under the moonlight sand sea, connected head to tail, boundless, majestic and majestic.

In the middle of the night, there was a sudden commotion. Some people broke into the camp in Khotan, fell on the trip ropes laid by the warriors in advance, and were immediately tied up and brought to Sumu.

(End of this chapter)