The yellow sand, earth walls, and rough wood seem to have experienced countless years of wind erosion, decay, and are stained with thick mud.

This is a small town southwest of Qiuci. Liu Cang was crossing the Tarim River. On the way, he heard the news of a conflict between an armed group in Qiuci and the Western Region Protectorate at a beacon tower built by the river, so he turned here.

Half a year has passed since Liu Cang sent troops to the Western Regions.

Within half a year, the Protectorate of the Western Regions had a stable permanent force of 100,000 troops, and Wulei accommodated 30,000 settler households, and the army garrisoned livestock. Because the Han army was permanently stationed and would not retreat, the Protectorate of the Western Regions frightened other countries.

During this period of time, there were not many direct conflicts between the Han army and the countries in the Western Regions, but dozens of Han armies were still running around the Western Regions to suppress bandits.

Although the thirty-six countries in the Western Region are all named after countries, the population of these countries is actually very limited. According to this calculation, Wu Lei can already be regarded as a big country.

The countries in the Western Regions are usually built on the basis of oases, with populations ranging from tens of thousands to thousands. It is a bit like Europe in the Middle Ages. They found an oasis, built a fortress, and gathered a group of people who dared to fight and kill.

People are also called countries.

Since the Eastern Han Dynasty, the population of the Western Regions has increased slightly, but thirty-six countries have returned to the Han Dynasty, and there are still more than ten or twenty small countries that consider themselves independent. The census of the Western Regions countries in the Duhufu is only about 400,000.

The Hussars suppressed the bandits for half a year, and the small country that considered itself independent bulldozed ten places, and the number of horse bandits killed once reached 150,000, but it did not have any real impact on the population of the countries in the Western Regions.

On the one hand, the Western Region has a large number of wandering mercenaries. On the other hand, it is not difficult to see that the population reported by the countries in the Western Region is also quite large.

As for those small countries that were bulldozed by the Hussars, there is nothing to say. They were bulldozed in the true sense.

There is a mountain col, a fort, an earthen wall four to five meters high, hundreds of soldiers, and a total population of two to three thousand. Often the wall collapses and the soldiers are killed when the hussars charge.

To be honest, these small country hussars really don't want to bulldoze them.

The situation in the Western Region is really special. Where thousands of people can gather, there is basically a water source and a green space.

In a sense, the people in those places can be regarded as the lifeline in the desert. For people walking in the desert, they often act as a glimmer of hope.

Although if you get to their territory, you will usually be blackmailed by them, but it is better than having your body buried in the sand.

It doesn't matter whether the people in these places surrender or not, including some powerful forces in the Western Region, usually they will not exterminate them. Their presence maintains the existence of the oasis to a certain extent, and this is their real value.

The survival rules are completely different from those in the Han Dynasty. Most of the Hussars attacked them because they desperately wanted to blackmail passing troops, or they were simply the base camp of a certain horse bandit.

The countries in the Western Regions basically have no regular soldiers, and most of their soldiers are mercenaries.

This has also led to the fact that many mercenaries work part-time as horse bandits. The Hussars have been killing horse bandits in the Western Regions for more than half a year but they have not been able to kill them all. However, the number of mercenaries in various countries has generally decreased or increased to varying degrees.

It is not unusual for a so-called small country to be the base camp of horse bandits, but Liu Cang's behavior of blackmailing the army was more puzzling.

Maybe it's the habit here, or maybe it's because I understand my own value.

For these rebellious and independent small countries, the Hussars usually slaughter their mercenaries, and even turn around to help them build damaged wall buildings to prevent a sandstorm-like bad weather from destroying the water source here.

Already.

These Westerners would not be grateful to the Hussars for helping them, and the Hussars would not show mercy when they killed the rebels.

If necessary, the hussars will also rob some cattle, sheep, and women. If the opponent's resources are too scarce, the hussars will leave them some materials and money obtained from the horse bandits, including tools to protect them from wild beasts.

arms.

It's a very strange battle mode. Chaos is probably more appropriate to describe it. And this is the Western Region.

There are various customs and folk customs all over the world, and the Western Region has its own unique scenery, both in nature and folk customs.

Xiluo Ao, a hundred miles west of Qiuci, is a village and town located in a mountain valley next to the main road from Qiuci to Gumo.

There are only mottled short grass and shrubs on the bare gray-yellow stone mountains, which are similar to human settlements in villages and towns. Local people usually dig out the mountain walls as their own residences.

Mud houses and wooden houses are built in the open areas of the mountain col. Most of these dusty houses are open to the public. Restaurants, casinos, brothels, stables, blacksmith shops and even market-type transactions and other places can be found here.

Coming astride the horse, Liu Cang rode three and four people, Dafu and Sifu, accompanying Liu Cang. Liu Cang held a young girl in his arms and rode with him.

There is no wall shelter in Xiluo Au. It is surrounded by mountains on all sides. The mountain is 20 to 30 meters tall. The mountain is relatively gentle, and there are access roads to the col from the west and north.

Liu Cang and his friends came from the west and just entered the mountain col. Under the wooden shed set up by the roadside, a dozen slaves tied with leather ropes looked at Liu Cang and his friends with hope in their eyes.

"Your Majesty, most of these slaves were captured because they violated taboos and lacked property. They have no special skills and are not good at fighting. The price should not be expensive. One plow horse can be exchanged for two or three people." Liu Cangsao

Glancing in the direction of the wooden shed, the girl in his arms introduced Liu Cang.

Ma Yunlu, Ma Teng's daughter, was brought into the harem by Liu Cang and given the title Jieyu.

Since Ma Teng and Ma Chao were allowed to take charge of the Western Regions, and there was no suitable heir of Liu Cang to marry Ma Chao for the time being, it was natural for Liu Cang to accept a girl from the Ma family.

Ma Yunlu is young and beautiful, with a charming mixed-race appearance. He was born in a family of warriors in Xiliang, and his temperament is a little heroic and unruly.

The girl's face was covered with gauze, but she was very well-behaved as she huddled in Liu Cang's arms. She grew up in Xiliang. In order to accompany Liu Cang on his wanderings in the Western Regions, Ma Yunlu made a lot of effort to understand the folk customs and sentiments of the Western Regions.

"They are all Europeans, have they violated a taboo?" Liu Cang asked casually, stroking Ma Yunlu's slender waist without paying much attention to the slaves.

"There shouldn't be many people who are caught stealing or robbing if they lose gambling, have no money to eat or buy water, etc. Those kind of people are usually recruited by mercenaries and will not become slaves." Ma Yunlu explained softly.

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "Oh, catching slaves here is quite particular." Liu Cang chuckled.

"Hehe, those who have the ability and carelessness will establish a country, but then they will not have to engage in sporadic slave trading." Ma Yunlu said with a smile.

While joking and letting loose, the Han appearance of Liu Cang and the other three is more conspicuous here.

Nowadays, the Uighurs have not come here yet, and the people in the Qiuci area are mainly white people of Indo-European origin, the European style. In fact, during this period, after Yumen Pass, white people were very common in the Western Regions.

Because the three of them were riding war horses, many pedestrians on the road gave way to Liu Cang and the others.

The Western Region is vast, and it is generally necessary to have a mount when traveling, but more mounts here are camels, and those who can use war horses as mounts are usually difficult to provoke.

Nobles, horse bandits, and mercenaries are often the only ones who can ride more delicate war horses.

As for the special looks of Liu Cang and the others, as well as the armored stomachs on Dafu and Sifu, in the eyes of people here, they are obviously another kind of existence that is even more difficult to mess with - the Han army of the Duhu Mansion.

Wary and scrutinizing eyes swept over Liu Cang and the others from time to time, but no one came forward to provoke them.

A gathering place like Xiluo'ao is a neutral area in the Western Region. Mercenaries, merchants, Han troops, and horse bandits can all come. No one will care if they fight here. As long as they don't kill the locals, they just destroy it.

Just pay for the things.

If you break the rules here, the stronger ones won't be tough if they can't do it. They should beg for mercy and run away. But if you come here again in the future, you should be more careful.

Things like drugging, night raids, stealing horses, burning goods, etc., the people here are also very lazy when it comes to doing it.

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