There were many beast skin shops in Ji City. Kun Xiong and Fei Yu spent an entire afternoon to find out the prices of most of the beast skin shops. When they returned to the inn, they reported back to Ang Lee.
After spending a comfortable night in the guest house, the next morning, Li An and the other two sold all of the beast hides at the highest price possible, earning five hundred gold.
Five hundred gold coins was exactly fifty pieces of leather. The total weight of the leather was about forty pounds in the future. It was quite heavy in their hands, which made the three of them very excited.
"Big Brother, we've sold all the beast skins. Are we going back?"
Ang Lee shook his head lightly, "We came all the way here. Of course, we have to buy some good stuff."
"What do you want to buy?"
"Horses, and they must be good horses."
Ang Lee knew that horses were an extremely important means of transportation in the Tang dynasty. Without horses, traveling would be severely restricted. Horses had become the most spiritual animal in the Tang dynasty.
As for skis, they were too limited by the season. Apart from the snowy areas in winter, they could only rely on horses to travel.
The three of them walked to the horse market and prepared to pick three good horses.
"Young Master, look at my horse. It only costs 25 strings of coins."
As soon as they entered the horse market, a horse seller introduced his horse.
Ang Lee naturally looked down on this kind of inferior horse that only cost 25 strings of coins. He shook his head lightly and walked past.
"Big Brother, those horses in front are not bad. They are all fat and healthy."
Naturally, Li An saw it as well, and he walked over.
"Good horses, really good horses. They are fat and healthy, and their fur is shiny." Ang Lee praised and gently stroked the horse's back.
"Young Master, this is a good horse. You can't touch it."
The horse seller quickly stopped Ang Lee. In his opinion, it was impossible for these rustic young masters to buy good horses.
"How much is this horse?"
"Hmph, one price, one hundred gold coins."
"Big Brother, it's too expensive. Don't buy it."
When Ang Lee heard the price, he also felt that it was too expensive. However, he could see that these were all good horses, and the price of good horses would naturally not be low.
"One hundred Gold Coins? Why is it sold at such a high price?"
"Young Master, the price of good horses is naturally higher. Moreover, my good horses are all equipped with high-quality reins, whips, saddles, stirrups, and hooves. You can use them as soon as you buy them. In addition, I also give you five days' worth of high-quality horse feed. It has been the same price for the past six months. I see that Young Master is also a poor man. Here, I have an ordinary horse that costs thirty strings of coins.
"Kun Xiong, give me 300 gold and I'll buy three horses."
Ang Lee did not even frown when he threw out 300 Gold Coins.
Looking at the dazzling 30 pieces of gold, the horse peddler was so shocked that his eyeballs almost fell out, and he felt his cheeks burning.
"Young Master, please forgive me. This commoner has eyes but failed to recognize Mount Tai. All the good horses are here, please take your pick."
The horse peddler's face instantly changed, and his attitude took a 180-degree turn.
Ang Lee let out an indifferent smile. He, Kun Xiong, and Fei Yu each chose a horse and led them away from the horse market. Although Ang Lee and the other two did not usually ride horses, Li Wu had taught them how to ride a horse a few years ago. Therefore, they still knew how to ride a horse. At least, they would not easily fall off the back of the horse.
"Big Brother, we only have 200 Gold Coins left, what else do we need to buy?"
"Let's buy some decent weapons first. After that, we'll buy some gifts for Little Ya 'er and the rest."
"Yes, Big Brother."
There were many weapon shops in Ji City. Ang Lee went to a bigger weapon shop and bought three well-made sabers, six short daggers, and three hard bows. He spent a total of 45 Gold Coins.
After that, he used the Gold Coins to buy some cloth, jewelry, toys, candies, and other small trinkets, preparing to give them to his four family members.
After all this, he had spent 350 Gold Coins of the 500 Gold Coins he earned from selling the pelts. He only had 150 Gold Coins left.
However, the war horses, weapons, and gifts were all necessary. Although it cost a lot, it was not a waste. The remaining 150 Gold Coins were also a huge sum of money. In short, this trip was worth it.
As the administrative center of Hebei Province, Ji City was very prosperous and lively. There were many places worth visiting here, but Ang Lee was worried about his family members, so he was not interested in any of them. After buying what he needed, he, Kun Xiong, and Fei Yu rode towards White Wolf Village.
One mile north of White Wolf Village, a defeated Tang dynasty army stopped to rest. There were nearly a hundred people in this army, but all of them were exhausted and lying on the snowy ground.
"Ah Hao, the Tibetan army will catch up with us soon. This is not a good place to stay." A general with a scar on his face panted heavily.
This man was An Lushan's trusted aide, Sun Xiaozhe, and the general opposite him was Tian Qianzhen, the general of the Pinglu army.
They were ordered by An Lushan to sneak attack the Xi tribe, but they were arrogant and underestimated the enemy, so they did not send any scouts to investigate the enemy's situation. They rashly launched an attack, which led to a great defeat.
If the two of them hadn't run fast enough, they would have been dead souls under the saber.
Tian Qianzhen looked at the tired soldiers beside him and shook his head. "Xiaozhe, the soldiers can't walk anymore. Even I am exhausted. Let's rest for a while. The Tibetan army won't catch up so soon."
"Okay, then let's rest." Sun Xiaozhe sat down and leaned back to back with Tian Qianzhen.
"Ah Hao, our army has suffered such a crushing defeat. How should we explain it to the commander-in-chief when we go back?"
"Report it truthfully."
"Report it truthfully." Sun Xiaozhe was anxious. "Ah Hao, you know the commander-in-chief's temper. If our mistake causes the army to suffer a crushing defeat, I'm afraid …"
Sun Xiaozhe knew that with his mother's pillow talk, An Lushan would not punish him severely. However, he would not be able to avoid a scolding, and he would be very disappointed in him. If he had a chance to perform meritorious deeds in the future, he would have nothing to do with it. If that happened, his career would be greatly affected.
"Xiaozhe, what do you want to do?"
"We can't return empty-handed." Sun Xiaozhe touched the scar on his face, and a ruthless look appeared in his eyes.
"We can't return empty-handed." Tian Qianzhen frowned at first, then nodded.
The so-called good horses were those that could travel thousands of miles in a day and would not feel tired. The three horses Ang Lee bought were such good horses.
They set off from Ji City and traveled day and night. It only took them three days to reach the foot of White Wolf Mountain.
"Big Brother, after crossing the small hill in front and crossing a bridge, we will be home."
"Big Brother, I can see the smoke. Aunt Bai must be cooking now. We will have something to eat when we go back."
Li An grinned. He had been traveling day and night, and now he was really hungry. His family must be waiting for him to go back soon.
"Let's speed up and go home for dinner. Go!"
"Go! Go! Go!"
The three of them quickly rode towards White Wolf Village.
"Big Brother, something is wrong. It's not smoke. It's thick smoke. There is a fire in the village."
After crossing a small hill, Fei Yu noticed something unusual.
Ang Lee raised his head and saw thick smoke rising from seven to eight places in the village. He was shocked, and an ominous feeling flashed through his mind.
"Something happened, something must have happened." Without thinking too much, Ang Lee urged his horse and rushed towards White Wolf Village at his fastest speed.
Spurring his horse across the small bridge at the entrance of the village, Li An was greeted by a scene of chaos. Collapsed houses, scattered furniture, messy footprints, and shocking bloodstains.
"Tender Sprout, Aunt Bai, Gouzi, Xiao Kui." Ang Lee rushed towards the ancestral home like a madman.
Outside the ancestral home, a pool of blood made Ang Lee feel like he was struck by lightning. He immediately jumped off his horse and barged into the home.
"Tender Sprout, Aunt Bai, Xiao Kui, Gouzi …"
Ang Lee shouted at the top of his lungs, but there was no response. Other than the scattered furniture in the courtyard, there was nothing else.
"Tender Sprout, where are you?"
Ang Lee leaned against the pillar in the main hall, looking at the sky with empty eyes. His mind was in a mess.
Kun Xiong and Fei Yu were also like madmen, searching back and forth in the three courtyards, but they found nothing.
A large amount of food in the kitchen was missing, and the small animals in the West Courtyard were also missing. A large hole was smashed in the newly built courtyard wall, and all the valuables in the house were stolen.
"Who did this, who did this?"
Ang Lee roared, took out his newly bought sword, and slashed at the pillar in the main hall.
Ang Lee was unable to calm down after such a drastic change in his home. His heart was filled with boundless hatred, but he had no idea what happened in the village. He wanted revenge, but he didn't know who his enemy was.
There were bloodstains everywhere in the village, but not a single corpse was found. Were all of them killed, or were some of them killed? Whether his relatives were alive or dead, Ang Lee didn't know.
"The hatred of the destruction of our family is irreconcilable. This hatred, we must take revenge." Veins popped out on Li Kun Xiong's forehead.
"Kill, we must kill these bastards." Li Feiyu threw the horsewhip in his hand to the ground.
Ang Lee held the sword at his waist and roared, "Kun Xiong, Fei Yu, search the whole village from house to house. We must find these bastards."
At this moment, the extremely furious Li An had already made up his mind. So long as he found the culprit, then no matter who the culprit was or how great the power of the culprit was, he would go forward without hesitation to take revenge, and he wouldn't hesitate to spill blood.
Little Ya 'er was Ang Lee's closest relatives. Aunt Bai, Gouzi, and Xiao Kui were also his relatives. The people in the village were all kind people. So many of them were missing, and the village was in ruins. In such a situation, how could Ang Lee's heart not be filled with hatred?
"Okay, let's go."
Kun Xiong and Fei Yu roared in response, and rushed into the village.
Ang Lee looked around the ancestral house carefully, but found nothing. Then he ran into the village to look for clues with Kun Xiong and Fei Yu.
"Big Brother, these were all found in the village." Li Kun Xiong was holding a pile of items in his hands.
Among these items, there were damaged scimitars, standard sabers that had been broken into two pieces, scattered armor pieces, and broken arrows. They were all military items.
Ang Lee judged at a glance that the scimitars and other items were the weapons of the northern alien tribes, and the standard swords and other items were the standard equipment of the Tang dynasty army.
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