To the south of He Li Mountain was Lan Province, to the north was the desert, the geographical environment was very different.
However, the desert was not completely uninhabited. There were hundreds of lakes of various sizes scattered in the desert. Some lakes were freshwater lakes, some were saltwater lakes, and some were saltwater lakes. Although some were saltwater lakes, there were still many springs in the saltwater lakes, spewing fresh water day and night.
Because of this strange landscape, there were many tribes living around the lake in this desert area. The Sha Ba tribe was one of them.
Late at night, the weather was very cold.
The undulating sand dunes were like small hills, the tallest were over two thousand feet, the smallest were a few hundred feet to a thousand feet. Behind these sand dunes, there was a group of people stealthily moving along the sand ridge towards the Sha Ba tribe.
The Sha Ba tribe lived beside the lake, behind them was a two hundred zhang tall sand dune. The team stopped on the sand dune, a moment later, someone gave an order, these people carried long blades on their backs and jumped down the sand dune, using the speed of their descent, they quickly rushed towards the tribe below the sand dune.
"Rumble … …"
The sand here was made of sand, close to a thousand people rushed down the sand dune, causing a huge roar, it was like a few huge bombers flying over the tribe, it was like a deep and deep thunder, the sound was so loud that it could travel for tens of miles in this silent night. The people of the Sha Ba tribe were startled awake, but it was too late for them to react.
Battle cries suddenly sounded, the quiet and dark lakeside tribe suddenly became a boiling cauldron of voices, the crying of women and children, the barking of dogs and horses, the clashing of blades, spears, swords and halberds, cursing and shouting mixed together, the silent desert became a pot of porridge.
When the first ray of sunlight shone on the land, the tribe had already quietened down. There were many corpses lying on the ground, blood flowing everywhere, freezing into red ice. The whole tribe was in the midst of recovering its peace.
Some were counting their belongings and provisions, carrying away what was easy to carry, some were burying their companions who had died in the previous night's melee under the sandy slope, and others were feeding the camels and horses they had plundered with beans, hay, and other fine fodder they had gathered. There were also some who were screening the captured tribesmen.
These tribesmen were not all free people of the tribe. There were many slaves among them. These slaves included Tubo, Han, Uighur, Khitan, Shiwei and even the Turks who belonged to the same tribe as the Sha Ba tribe. Because their tribe was defeated in a war between tribes, they became slaves.
These mysterious visitors released the slaves and gave them property, food, weapons, and even women. Even the slaves who were originally timid and didn't dare to rebel against their former masters suddenly gained the courage to rebel when they received the property and weapons and turned their former mistresses into their own women.
What's more, many of the slaves who had been mistreated by their former masters were weak and did not dare to resist in order to survive. Now that they had turned over and become masters, with these people as their backing, they wanted to treat their former masters even more cruelly than this unknown team.
Very soon, these freed slaves and detained tribesmen figured out the origins of these people. These were two famous groups of horse bandits. One group was mainly made up of Han people, the 'Little Flying General' and the other group was mainly made up of Turks, the 'Black Whirlwind'. 'Little Flying General' and 'Black Whirlwind' were the nicknames of the leaders of the horse bandits. Horse bandits didn't need any banners, in order to distinguish them, people would use the nicknames of their leaders to name them.
There was a special person in the 'Little Flying General' group, and that was Yang Fan, who still had a full beard. When he heard about the crisis in Shuofang, Longyou and Hegu, Yang Fan suddenly thought that since he looked similar to Ashina Musi and was able to make the Tubo people suffer, could he do the same thing again and use this identity to cause some trouble for the Turks?
As for how to cause trouble for the Turks, he had not thought of it yet. He planned to act according to the circumstances when he arrived at the Turks. With just a team of horse bandits, it was impossible for them to affect the military operations of the Turks, who had close to three hundred thousand soldiers. But with his identity as' Ashina Musi ', it was hard to say.
Like the Tubo, the Turks had serious internal conflicts, such as between the main tribe and the vassal tribes, and between tribes. If he could use Ashina Musi's identity to make the Turks suspicious of each other, or even provoke a dispute between them, causing a greater turmoil, under such circumstances, the Turks would definitely not be able to send troops to attack the Tang dynasty.
In this way, before they resolve their internal conflicts, the armies of Shuofang, Longyou and Hexi could calmly respond, replenish their troops, adjust their deployment and strengthen the city's defences, rendering the intelligence they received useless. This plan was undoubtedly very risky, but it was indeed too tempting.
Especially after the success at the Tubo capital, Shen Mu had a taste of it. If he could use this plan to stop the hundreds of thousands of Turks from advancing south, this risk was clearly worth it.
Thus, after careful deliberation, Shen Mu decided to use Zhang Yi's horse bandits as the main force, and then borrow some elite cavalry from Wuzhile to disguise themselves as a group of horse bandits to infiltrate the Turks' territory. After that, they would act according to the circumstances. When it was time to be a bandit, they would be a bandit. When it was time to transform into a Turk army, Yang Fan would just tear off his beard.
Once the plan was made, the biggest obstacles were the high-house chickens and Big Bear, who were supposed to be mere decorations. Yang Fan did not want to use the military to carry out this operation. Firstly, Lou Shide might not agree to such a risky operation. It would be too much of a responsibility for him to throw thousands of soldiers into the hands of the Turks to fend for themselves.
At the same time, the spies were everywhere. Based on the information Shen Mu received, the two Turk spies had only managed to escape with the help of a spy in the army. From the looks of it, Wuzhile's tribe and Zhang Yi's horse bandits were purer. But how was he supposed to explain this to the high-house chickens and Big Bear?
Zhang Yi provided the simplest solution: Kill them all!
This method was truly without any repercussions, but Yang Fan could not bring himself to do it. In order to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, sacrificing two innocents seemed worth the price, but Yang Fan could not bring himself to do it. He wanted to convince these two to join his plan.
As they passed by an oasis town, Yang Fan called them to his residence. He told them that through the court's secret reporting system, he had learned that a Turk spy had escaped back to the Turks with important military intelligence. In order to prevent a possible Turk attack, he wanted to use his resemblance to Ashina Musi to infiltrate the Turks and cause chaos.
Besides the damage that would be caused if the Turks invaded, Yang Fan spared no effort in explaining how great his future would be once he succeeded. The high-house chickens and Big Bear were no fools. From the fact that he had rushed to the Turkic Cavalry Division and then brought his men to Tubo to gather enough intelligence, they knew that he had another source of information and that he had the help of another faction. The two of them were just decorations.
Their many years as scouts had trained them to be cautious and meticulous. They did not want to pry into Yang Fan's secrets, nor did they fear death. Their home was in Longyou, and Yang Fan's actions were beneficial to their family and elders. That was enough. Moreover, they knew what it meant if they succeeded in this venture.
As a result, the two soldiers, who had always been adventurers, agreed to work with him.
After that, Shen Mu stopped at the small town and sent his trusted aides back to the Turkic Cavalry Division to ask for more men from Wuzhile. Even if there were spies in the Turkic Cavalry Division, they could not form a powerful intelligence network. With just one or two eyes and ears, they could not possibly send out any information on such a snowy day. Unless he defected and never returned.
Even so, Shen Mu kept this important mission a secret. He sent his trusted aides to meet with Shen Mu to discuss the matter. To the outside world, he only said that they had been attacked by bandits on the way and needed the protection of the Turkic Cavalry Division. Wuzhile had personally selected the bravest and most trustworthy one thousand and five hundred of his trusted aides. Only the leader of the team knew the details. Only when the one thousand and five hundred warriors arrived at the small town did he officially announce the mission to them.
In the meantime, Shen Mu had also notified the Huang River to send someone to pick him up. His men had arrived a little earlier than the one thousand and five hundred cavalry from the Turkic Cavalry Division. After all the arrangements were made, Zhang Yi and Yang Fan led the bandits and the Turkic Cavalry Division to change their route to the Turks, while Shen Mu returned to the Huang River.
Yang Fan and Zhang Yi led two thousand men across the Heli Mountains and into the desert. Zhang Yi had spent the last few years roaming the lands. His primary task had been to gather intelligence for Shen Mu, build connections, and complete some official missions. He was sworn brothers with Black Whirlwind, the leader of a band of bandits in Turkic territory.
Zhang Yi brought his men to Black Whirlwind's camp, intending to buy some horses from him. Who would have thought that Black Whirlwind would hear that Zhang Yi had brought his men to infiltrate the Turks to do some big business and was immediately interested, insisting on partnering up with Zhang Yi. If they managed to snatch the goods and women, they would split the profits 50/50.
Zhang Yi secretly consulted Yang Fan. Yang Fan wanted nothing more than to wreak havoc in this infiltration of the Turkic Khaganate, so there was no reason for him to refuse. Besides, with the help of this local band of bandits, he would have an extra pair of eyes and ears, increasing his chances of success. Zhang Yi agreed to Black Whirlwind's request, magnanimously stating that the gold, silver, and food they stole would be split fifty-fifty, while the cows, sheep, horses, women, and slaves they stole would all belong to Black Whirlwind. Black Whirlwind was so delighted that he patted Zhang Yi on the shoulder and called him brother.
Thus, one group of real bandits and one group of fake bandits worked together to sweep through the Turkic tribes.
"Hahahaha, hahahaha …"
The bearded Turkic Black Whirlwind, with his three-pronged Heaven Supporting Trident on his shoulder, roared with laughter as he watched the herds of cattle and sheep gallop past him. Then he turned to look at the treasures and beautiful women he had found in the houses of the tribal chiefs, and he couldn't help but laugh again.
Zhang Yi and Yang Fan, whose beard was almost as big as Black Whirlwind, stood not far away, whispering in each other's ears. Yang Fan said: "Brother Zhang, we need to fight to sustain ourselves, so we still have to pretend to be bandits. However, sweeping through the small tribes on the borders of the Turkic Khaganate isn't very useful. We've already stolen enough horses, so we can move on."
Zhang Yi glanced at Black Whirlwind, who was giggling foolishly, and asked: "What about him?"
Yang Fan replied: "He has quite a few men with him, and they are still useful for the time being. At the same time, they can help us confuse the Turkic Khaganate. Let's bring them along for now. When they sense danger, he will retreat on his own. At that time, we can shake him off and do it ourselves!"
Zhang Yi nodded and walked toward Black Whirlwind.
Not long later, Black Whirlwind's men escorted the captured cows, sheep, and women, and led the newly recruited highwaymen back to their base. Together with Zhang Yi, Black Whirlwind led the other highwaymen into the depths of the desert. Like a catfish diving into a school of sardines, they began their journey of 'stirring things up'!
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