As they spoke, a squad of warriors had already ridden up and surrounded the tea stall. The warriors said nothing, merely sizing everyone up in silence. Only the snorting of the horses remained, making the scene exceptionally eerie.
Though these warriors wore plain clothes, the fierce air about them revealed their military background. Song Qingshu's heart tightened. Could this be Jia Sidao's arrangement? He actually dared to defy all public outrage and secretly mobilize troops to seize people. His audacity was truly boundless.
There were roughly five hundred warriors. Five hundred men were nothing on a battlefield, but when dealing with a few lone martial artists in ordinary times, five hundred men massed together in a dark, dense formation were immensely intimidating.
What was more, they were all cavalry. The Song Dynasty had always lacked horses, and cavalry had consistently been scarce. Back when Nong Zhigao rebelled and swept through Guangxi and Guangdong with tens of thousands of troops, alarming the entire court, Di Qing had been urgently transferred south from the war against Western Xia to suppress the rebellion. Even in the suppression army facing such a massive uprising, there had only been five hundred cavalrymen.
Yet five hundred cavalrymen had appeared in this desolate wilderness. It was a truly staggering display of resources.
"Where might you military gentlemen be headed?" Of everyone present, Song Qingshu was deep in thought, Ouyang Feng could not be bothered with these people, and Zhou Zhiruo was unused to dealing with so many men. Lan Fenghuang, however, stepped forward with easy grace and asked.
The leading rider greedily swept his gaze over her curvaceous figure, but did not answer. Instead, he said to the companion beside him, "Why does the number seem off?"
"The Mongols are missing," a rider on the other side