bayedsolid Chapter 593: Lu Lin Nan Ge (1)
Chapter 593: Lu Lin Nan Ge (1)
The second group of people Chu Xiaomu encountered were from Yutuo City.
There were nine of them, all riding dark blue horses with broad hooves and short tails, named "Xiba". This kind of horse had layers of muscles on its shoulders and necks, and its four hooves were twice as wide and thick as those of ordinary horses, making a dull thumping sound when stepping on the bluestone road. The most peculiar thing was their iron-gray manes, which were braided into dozens of thin braids hanging on the sides of their necks, with dark red pompoms tied to the ends of each braid. It was said that these pompoms were made of the tail hair of desert red foxes, and they would tremble as the horses ran, looking like burning fire from a distance.
There was no saddle on the back of the Xiba horse, but a brown felt cloth with tassels on both ends. The tassels were half a foot long, twisted with silk threads dyed with indigo and ochre. When they were raised with the horse's steps, they looked like thousands of swimming sand snakes. In the center of the felt cloth was woven the "Sand Sea Chasing the Sun" totem unique to Yutuo City - a three-legged golden crow spread its wings and swept across the endless sand dunes. Each feather was embroidered with gold thread mixed with malachite silk, shimmering in the sun. Between the heavy breathing of the horse, the warp and weft lines on the edge of the felt cloth could be seen worn, which was obviously the mark left by years of crossing the Gobi Desert.
The young woman in the lead was about twenty years old, with a nose as high as a scimitar, and thin eyebrows slanting into the temples. There was a turquoise the size of a rice grain at the end of her left eyebrow. There were fine beads of sweat on her wheat-colored face, which was plated with a layer of gold by the midday sun. She wore a half-worn scarf around her neck, and faintly revealed the blue tattoo on her collarbone - it was the nine-curve sand pattern that only the nobles of Yutuo City were allowed to have. The short-sleeved jacket was made of coarse linen interwoven with peacock blue and turmeric, and there were seven silver bells on the collar, which jingled as she raised her hands. The hem of the short jacket was tucked into the leather belt, and a crescent-shaped short knife hung on her waist, with green agate embedded in the scabbard to form a sand scorpion pattern.
The most eye-catching thing is her exposed skin. The muscles of her forearms are as taut as bowstrings. On her wrists, she wears a three-finger-wide copper wrist guard with dense carvings on the surface. Her trouser legs only reach below the knees, and her exposed calves are wrapped with sand-proof bandages. This attire is completely different from the wide-sleeved robes of the people in Jinyang City. It looks like she is ready to jump off the horse and fight the enemy at any time.
The woman's amber eyes swept across the streets like a hawk, and her eyes would pause for a moment as they passed over the faces of every spectator. Her right knuckles tapped unconsciously on the hilt of the sword, and her left hand loosely held the reins. The rhino horse seemed to be telepathically cooperating with its master to slow down its pace. When her sight passed a tea shed, she suddenly clamped her grip on the horse's belly, and the dark blue horse immediately stood up with a loud snort, and the tasseled felt cloth drew a half brown moon in the air. This action made the silver bell on her waist ring suddenly, and the necklace hidden in her collar slipped out - it was a six-pointed star pendant carved from camel bones, with a blood-red desert agate in the center.
As the horse's hooves rose lightly, a crisp tinkling sound came from the woman's body. It was estimated that she was wearing a toy like a bell hanging on her body.
The crowd of onlookers gasped. Several women who were holding pottery jars hurriedly stepped back, causing the strings of dried chilies on the stall to shake. The young men in ramie shorts squeezed forward half a step, staring at the long weapon wrapped in suede behind the woman with shining eyes. Judging from the shape, it should be a recurve horn bow unique to Yutuo City. The copper wind chime hanging on the eaves of the tea shed suddenly rang, and the woman turned her head sharply to look. The bone beads tied to her braids collided with each other, making a crisp sound in the heat wave.
Chu Xiaomu noticed that there was a thick callus on the base of her right hand, and there were still unhealed scratches on her knuckles. It was obvious that she was not a delicate lady who had been raised in seclusion. When the woman leaned over and whispered to the attendant beside her, a corner of the collar on the back of her neck was turned up, revealing an old dark red scar underneath, which looked like a mark torn by a sharp claw. When she spoke, she always raised her chin habitually, revealing the beautiful lines of her neck, but her eyes were as alert as a jackal in the desert, as if she would pull out a sharp blade from the sheath at any time.
With this appearance and demeanor, plus the unique rhinoceros horse and sand sea totem of Yutuo City, Chu Xiaomu has already guessed that this woman is Lu Linnange, the only daughter of Lu Linang, the Lord of Yutuo City. It is said that she went into the black sandstorm alone to rescue the caravan three years ago, and last year she led people to wipe out the horse bandits entrenched in the Dry Bone Road. Now it seems that the fierce momentum honed by the wind and sand is three points better than the legend.
Lu Lin Nan Ge looked at the crowd watching the excitement on both sides from time to time, and glanced at almost everyone's face, as if he was looking for someone.
The Seven Cities Conference, which only happens once in a century, will be held in one day. The people in Jinyang City are getting excited, making noise and laughing, and the atmosphere is gradually getting more lively as the weather gets hotter.
The sweet aroma of honey ice cream wafts through the streets, an old man selling sour plum soup knocks on a copper cup at the entrance, cicadas chirp in the heat through the gray tile eaves with ivy hanging. The slate road is bleached by the sun, reflecting the red corners of people's hurried clothes - the once-in-a-century Seven Cities Conference will be held tomorrow, and even the tree holes of the century-old locust tree in the east of the city are filled with a few children who sneak out to play rock-paper-scissors.
The area near Tiankun Castle is even more lively and beautiful.
In front of the castle's 16-foot-high black iron gate, colorful flags were erected along the high wall, two or three feet high. They were seven colors: gold, dark blue, blue, gray, brown, jade, and green. When the summer wind blew, they fluttered.
Different patterns were embroidered on them, representing Jinyang City, Xihai City, Baijun City, Anfeng City, Yan City, Yutuo City and Bicheng. The golden flag was embroidered with a nine-pointed blazing sun, the dark blue flag had the unique three-fold wave pattern of Xihai City floating on it, the green flag was painted with the twisted roots of the thousand-year-old sacred tree of Baijun City, and the gray flag had the hurricane totem of Anfeng City that seemed to be about to break through the silk... A gilded bell was hung on the top of each flagpole. When the wind blew, the jingling sound blended with the hawking of vendors under the city, startling the night-shining pearl in the mouth of the bronze cast Jiaozi squatting on the eaves and trembling slightly.
The most eye-catching thing is the seven wide silk curtains hanging at the city gate. Between the black background and the golden lines of the cloud pattern, the sworn allies from two hundred years ago are walking out from the depths of time: the Lord of Xihai City has his sleeves wide and the wind blows, with the mist on his fingertips; the Lord of Baijun City has a green leaf forehead ornament shining slightly, and a wooden staff wrapped with flowering vines; the female general of Yancheng on the far right has blood on her armor, but she points the half-broken sword straight to the sky... The painter used pigments mixed with fluorescent powder to outline the folds of the clothes, and in the twilight, the clothes of these ancestors really seem to be floating in the stars.
Jin Lier suddenly thought of this a few days ago, and called a dozen painters to make it overnight and hang it at the castle gate. On the one hand, it made the people from the major cities closer, and on the other hand, it made the purpose of holding this conference clear to everyone entering the castle, which was to see and guess, that is, the Seven Cities Alliance to once again resist the evil red soldiers who invaded the Cangmu Kingdom.
Inside and outside the castle gate, there was an 80-zhang scarlet carpet, stretching from the gate to the jade steps of the main hall. Seven-petal snow lotuses embroidered with gold thread bloomed one after another along the edge. Two teams of bronze-armored guards stood on both sides like sculptures. The red tassels on their helmets faded in the sun, and sweat soaked through the linen lining along the neck guards. The bearded general in the lead suddenly took a half step forward and stopped a child with drooping marrow who wanted to touch the carpet with his scabbard: "Little boy, be careful! This blanket is mixed with fire-resistant yarn, a rare thing that cannot be burned or torn. You can't afford it even if you sell your blue brick yard!"
Under the temporary awning on the west side of the castle, the storyteller was clapping the wake-up stick: "It is said that when the red soldiers passed through, even the eight hundred year old sacred tree in Baijun City wept tears of blood..." In the crowd, an old man wearing a Yutuo City headband suddenly sneered: "If our city hadn't donated three thousand camels back then..." Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by a merchant from Anfeng City: "What's the use of camels? It's still up to our city lord to summon the tornado..." While everyone was arguing, no one noticed that two men dressed in Yancheng clothes quietly withdrew from the crowd, and the heavy black iron swords on their backs dragged tiny sparks on the bluestone slabs.