A column of cavalry, more than seven hundred men in all, hurried to the Post Station near the Kingdom of Karasahr.
Liu Shi had long been waiting there.
When the commander of the horsemen stepped down from his carriage, Liu Shi hurried forward with the others to welcome him.
This Post Station had once been a Han army garrison, later serving as an important outpost on Loulan Road. Its garrison numbered only a few dozen men, responsible for keeping watch against bandits nearby and ensuring the road's safety.
Liu Shi had secretly arrived here four days earlier.
He had brought few men with him, only thirty-odd mounted attendants.
Deng Zhong swung down from his horse and immediately spotted Liu Shi standing among the crowd in the distance. He approached with a smile and bowed in greeting.
"Lord Liu!"
Liu Shi returned the courtesy and arranged for the officials to see to the cavalry Deng Zhong had brought, while he entered the courtyard with Deng Zhong.
The grounds here were small, insufficient to accommodate so many cavalrymen, so they could only make a temporary camp.
The two entered the Inner Chamber one after the other and dismissed everyone around them. Only then did Deng Zhong hurriedly ask, "What exactly happened?"
Liu Shi's face was stern and quite grave. He invited Deng Zhong to sit, poured some tea himself, then sat beside him.
"Kucha and Yanqi have gone to war."
Relations between Kucha and Yanqi were poor. Even Deng Zhong, far away in Gaochang, had heard about it. He had heard that the monarchs of the two kingdoms detested each other, had both humiliated the other, and had even taken extreme actions. But what Deng Zhong could not understand was how they had dared go to war with Liu Shi there watching