The Sixteen Whirlwind Riders had also accompanied Murong Zhan. These sixteen men were his finest warriors, and their mounts were all horses capable of covering a thousand li a day. That was how they had reached Yunyang from the Kang Capital in just two days.
But their swift steeds would be useless on the next leg of the journey. Seventy li west of Yunyang, the route entered the mountains, where the roads were rugged and treacherous. The recent earthquake in Western Sichuan had also severed many of them. Unless these horses sprouted wings, they could never soar over the mountains straight to the Western Prefecture.
Hu Xiaotian had prepared himself for this and entrusted the horses to Liang Yinghao, who had escorted them there, to take back.
Murong Zhan could not understand their choice of route and could not help complaining to Hu Xiaotian, "If we followed my route and detoured south, the going would be much easier."
Hu Xiaotian smiled. "This road is safer." Heading south would take them into the heartland of Great Kang. He was not foolish enough to accompany these people deep into its territory, where there was no telling what complications might arise. This route was more treacherous, but it posed little difficulty for martial practitioners like them. Every summer, the Flying Owl routinely flew north to escape the heat, leaving Hu Xiaotian without his fastest means of transportation. Still, there was an advantage to traveling this way: he could investigate conditions in Western Sichuan after the earthquake.
Although many refugees had fled into Hu Xiaotian's territory, that did not mean northeastern Western Sichuan was deserted. Some residents still remained. Hu Xiaotian had already dispatched twenty thousand men, who were taking advantage of their relief mission to seize territory in Western Sichuan.
Fangjing and Qingluan,