The journey of the only child of a peasant family to take the imperial examination

The group traveled quickly under the moonlight, and did not catch up with the team that had eaten their fill until after 3 p.m.

After the two teams joined forces, their momentum immediately grew a lot stronger, and everyone below secretly breathed a sigh of relief. After all, there is strength in numbers.

They did not stop and continued to head towards Zhangye.

On the other side, the group who were ambushing Zhang Ping'an at Wutouling realized that Zhang Ping'an's team might have changed their route after waiting for a long time.

"Brother, what should we do?" someone asked.

"Let's retreat! They must have reunited with the disguised group. Even though Little Thirteen isn't doing well, we can't just ignore him. My godfather hasn't been in good health these past few years, and if he knew about this, he'd be incredibly anxious and furious. Oh, let's go!"

After the man called Big Brother finished speaking, he took the lead, reined in, and walked back.

Judging from the direction, it is heading towards Zhangye and Guazhou.

They have been in the Northwest for many years and are very familiar with the routes and terrains of various parts of the Northwest. Their horses are all top-quality horses produced in the Northwest, so it is not difficult for them to catch up with Zhang Pingan and the others.

After arriving in Zhangye, Zhang Ping'an was no longer in a hurry to continue his journey.

After all, we are all flesh and blood, and no one is made of iron.

They were lucky enough to find a dilapidated temple, built a fire, and at least had some hot soup to relax.

After dinner, Zhang Ping'an gathered his men together and made defensive arrangements in advance.

This is because Zhangye's topography is very special. Not only does it have the magnificent colorful Danxia, ​​but it is also a huge inland basin. The basin is high in the south and low in the north, and is surrounded by ancient mountains.

The Qilian Mountains in the south and the Altun Mountains, Longshou Mountains, Heling Mountains and other mountain ranges in the north form this special terrain, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and is a natural war defense barrier.

It is also a place where people are easily ambushed when traveling inside and outside the pass.

In the past, when the Silk Road trade was flourishing in the northwest region, horse bandits often appeared here, robbing and killing people.

Although the bandit problem has gradually been eliminated, we still have to be on guard against them because of their special identities.

Zhao Renzhi volunteered: "I will go to the top of the valley on both sides to guard it in advance. If anything happens, I will use arrows as a signal."

"You don't need to go forward this time. Let Chibao take the people with you. After all, you are one of the three ministers on the western tour. You have already arrived in Zhangye and are about to reach Guazhou. It is better to be safe than sorry. We should not cause any more trouble." Zhang Ping'an raised his hand and rejected the proposal in a deep voice.

Zhao Renzhi was a little dissatisfied when he heard this, thinking that Zhang Pingan no longer trusted him because of the previous inn fire. He could only assure him, "Don't worry, I won't do anything rash this time."

Zhang Pingan knew it was a misunderstanding as soon as he heard it. He waved his hand and explained, "Don't worry. It's not that I don't trust your ability. It's just that if these people are targeting the pangolin, I don't think they will deliberately hurt anyone. There's a good chance they'll try to take it head-on. It would be better for you to stay where you are and stay with us."

"Is that so?" Zhao Renzhi's expression brightened slightly after hearing this. He then raised his head and looked at the Pangolin, whose hands and feet were bound not far away, and asked, "Should we replace him in advance?"

The implication is to change someone else's disguise like last time.

Zhang Pingan disagreed: "No need, this escape trick only needs to be used once. They are not stupid, so we can only use it once and not twice."

When saying these words, Zhang Ping'an did not avoid Pangolin at all, but he didn't know whether Pangolin heard him or not. He didn't react at all. His face was hidden under his messy hair, and his expression could not be seen clearly.

Zhao Renzhi couldn't stand this man's half-hearted and unconcerned look, and his hands started to itch.

If he were in the capital, he would have been tortured in all kinds of ways, and there would be no need to feel so aggrieved.

Zhang Pingan saw Zhao Renzhi's expression and guessed what he was thinking. He knew he was definitely up to no good, so he reminded him, "The overall situation is more important!"

"I understand, don't worry!" Zhao Renzhi reluctantly withdrew his gaze and replied.

There is a rift between the two of them now, and Qian Jie is the most troubled, although this was also what he was happy to see before. After all, if Zhang and Zhao are not in harmony, he, as the person who mediates, will definitely get more benefits and reap the benefits.

But if they continue to be at odds, that won’t do. We still rely on the two of them to work together!

"Come on, brother-in-law, let's go out and chat for a while." After thinking about this, Qian Jie put down the dry branches he was using to stir the firewood, clapped his hands, stood up and greeted him.

Calling him brother-in-law is also a way to show closeness, to bring the two closer together and make it easier to talk!

Zhao Renzhi glanced at them twice without saying anything. He guessed that the two of them went out just to talk about something like "don't be in conflict" and didn't care.

Qian Jie usually plays both sides, so he is used to it.

Zhang Ping'an looked indifferent, put down his things and went out with them.

Zhao Renzhi was right, Qian Jie did think so.

After the result came out, before he could finish his words, Zhang Ping'an turned his back to the people in the dilapidated temple and took out a small porcelain bottle from his arms and handed it to him.

"What is this?" Qian Jie raised his eyebrows and asked in a low voice after taking it.

The bottle is plain white and nothing can be seen.

He was not stupid. Since Zhang Ping'an took out this thing with his back to everyone in the room, it must be useful. It would be inappropriate to make it public, so he lowered his voice.

Zhang Pingan knew Qian Jie was reliable, so he didn't waste any words. He quickly instructed, "Second uncle, this small porcelain bottle contains the blood of the green flies that I specially collected. Take it. I will arrange for you to keep watch outside the house. If the thieves really come to attack at night, you can take advantage of the chaos to smear this blood on their weapons. I know your skills, so I'm sure you can handle it."

Qian Jie understood immediately and guessed, "You want to use this to see if you can find the attackers inside the Guazhou camp when you get there?"

As a thousand-year-old family, the Qian family has collected a large number of various books and secret recipes.

Qian Jie also knew about this green fly blood. Green flies are famous mother and larvae insects. If the blood of the mother insect and the larvae are smeared on two strings of coins respectively, then the mother insect and the larvae will find the string of coins with each other's blood based on their special induction.

It is recorded in ancient books such as "Baopuzi" and "Soushenji".

"That's right," Zhang Pingan didn't deny it, but he didn't finish his words. He only explained, "Of course, this is just my guess. It may not be useful."

"why?"

Qian Jie knew that this guess would not come out of nowhere, there must be a reason.

"A premonition!" Zhang Ping said calmly.

"I've received intel that Pangolin sold burial objects for a huge sum, millions of taels. But he didn't keep much silver, and most of it was used to purchase food and weapons. What kind of place would need so much food and weapons?"

It could only be a military camp.

"Okay, I understand," Qian Jie understood what was going on.