Just past the summer solstice, the Desolate Bone Shoals in the heart of Liangzhou had already turned into scorched earth beneath the blazing sun. The ground was baked dry and cracked, the vegetation withered yellow without a trace of green. Even the two horses approaching along the distant dirt road twisted and shimmered in the rising heat, their blurred outlines all that could be seen as they drew closer:
Jingle, jingle~
In years past, the Desolate Bone Shoals had been a lawless place overrun by horse gangs. But after the two dynasties opened trade, the Black Banner Gang brought the area under its jurisdiction, restoring peace and turning it into a trade route connecting North and South.
Now that the Southern and Northern Dynasties were at war, the trade route through Blackstone Pass had become harder to travel. Still, the pass was controlled by Great Wei, which had not forbidden merchants from supplying the Western Sea Tribes. The enormous profits brought by soaring wartime prices still outweighed the risks of crossing the border during a war.
Thus, even in the midsummer heat of the fifth month, many caravans still crossed the Desolate Bone Shoals. Unable to travel at noon, they gathered in the small town at its entrance.
Whoosh, whoosh~
The hot wind whipped the flag at the town entrance back and forth. The flag itself was distinctly Liangzhou in character: a horse bandit's skin, bearing the character "Hu" to proclaim who ruled this town.
Ye Jingtang reined in outside town and looked up at the human skin hanging from the flagpole, tugging at his collar to let out some of the heat accumulated during the long journey.
Yu Hu and Huaiyan, who followed behind him, were both pampered daughters of noble birth. Traveling across the Gobi Desert beneath the