From Dunhuang to Hami, the distance of more than 1,000 miles in the middle, there are almost no villages and towns settled by human beings on the road, between heaven and earth will always give people the taste of desolation and vastness, no matter where you go, what you see are similar walls, similar deserts, similar plants, for a long time, it will make people feel tired from the bottom of their hearts, if it is not for so many people and horses together, and only three or five people, even doubt whether they can get out of this world.
Fortunately, there are many people, joking and singing, it is an excellent rehearsal, and occasionally you can meet small beasts foraging on the road, each of them performs exquisite archery skills, and shoots the small beasts, not only for their own meals, but also a happy and happy game.
On such a desolate ancient road, they also met some human beings, and it should have been a happy thing to see their kind in this desolate place, but these same kind were more terrible than the desolate world and the ferocious beasts, because they were horse thieves.
Horse thieves should be regarded as the most resilient creatures in the desert, stronger than the vitality of poplar trees and camel thorns, especially the small group of horse thieves, they have no fixed residence, the vast desert is their best hiding place, no one can explore all their secret nests, no one can trace their footprints.
If you really talk about force, even if you gather all the troops of the most powerful group of horse thieves in the desert, it will be difficult to compete with Xia Xun's three thousand elite iron cavalry, but Barcelona, whose strength has been reduced by half, Xia Xun still has no choice but to drive him into the desert, and want to annihilate him, or behead his thief, it is wishful thinking.
These small groups of horse thieves encountered on the road are not a swarm of people, they may not even know that a swarm of bees has suffered a heavy blow, and when these small groups of horse thieves want to rob a certain target, they will also send spies to follow them to find out the details of the other party so that they can take action.
They didn't know where this army-backed team came from, but they knew very well that they couldn't gnaw on this bone, but they still came.
They crisscross the desert steppe, the only purpose is to plunder, plunder everything, horses, livestock, weapons, property, strong men, women, they do not produce, do not create, everything comes from plunder, it is rare to see such a piece of fat, naturally to gnaw a bite.
As for the strong strength of the other party, they don't care, no one has more vitality than them in such a difficult environment, they come and go like the wind, their whereabouts are uncertain, like a group of jackals and wild dogs wandering in the desert grassland, not afraid of retaliation at all, although this Ming army is not easy to provoke, but can take a bite is a mouthful, so such a "wild dog group" always wanders along the way, sneak attack at night, intending to take advantage of some advantages.
At this time, when Xia Xun came all the way to the west, the camp training of the army played a big role, every time the Ming army encountered a horse thief attacking the camp, it was not in a hurry, and the response was calm, the horse thief could not take any advantage, and the enemy who came to attack was often robbed by the officers and soldiers.
The march of the Ming army was boring and boring, and during the day, they could close their eyes and recuperate while riding on horses, rest and sleep, and their energetic people had nowhere to vent, just regarded them as a pastime, and regarded the horse thief attack camp as a game, and they never got tired of it Tonight was another wonderful game of cat and mouse, with the camps lit up with torches and the warriors gleefully cleaning up the battlefield.
The horse thieves didn't expect that these officers and soldiers would actually lay a lot of traps in this uninhabited desert, and some unlucky people even fell into the pit with people and horses, and no one paid attention to them now.
The booty is very rich, all the belongings of these horse thieves are carried with them, they come out to plunder, how can they hand over their belongings to others for safekeeping, the so-called nests are just some sand valley caves, if you really want to hide your belongings there, you will definitely disappear when you go back, and none of the old thieves who stay behind will stand up and admit that they are thieves.
Therefore, the gold, silver, jewelry, silk tea, and even some grange land deeds they stole were all carried on their bodies, and every horse thief was a cash cow, and the officers and soldiers who captured the horse thieves were elated, and the officers and soldiers who did not catch anyone were envious.
Guogong said, whoever captures what, all belong to him, except for the war horse, he has to be killed, and he makes a fortune doing games, so he is happy The horse thieves who were lucky enough to not die squatted on the ground with their heads in their hands, their bodies had already been looted, and even the silk they wrapped around their bodies was ordered to be untied, and they all wanted to cry without tears as if they were called flowers: officers and soldiers are more ruthless than thieves "These horse thieves, with waste of food, cleaned up, killed" The caravan from Dunhuang to Bei Lost Bali also just experienced a cruel battle, after inspecting the battlefield, Ying Zhan coldly issued an order, this is the desert, there is no law here, there is no morality, the weak eat the strong, the winner is respected.
The horse guards of the major merchants obviously understood this rule, and without saying a word, they drew their knives and began to kill, and the bodies of their fallen partners were dug and buried, and the bodies of horse thieves were thrown directly there, waiting for wolves and vultures to share the food.
Dust to dust, earth to earth, life comes from the earth, and eventually it returns.
The tents were set up, and they were to spend the night here, and the caravans took turns to guard them, and the caravans that were in charge of guarding the periphery tonight set up their tents on the outermost edge, and their horse caravans relied on their caravans to form a more periphery encirclement, and then they sent out light horsemen to keep watch in the wasteland several miles away.
The smoke rose and dinner began.
Their caravan and Xia Xun did not go all the way, they went along the edge of the desert to the depth of the Tarim Basin.
Crossing the Tarim Basin in winter is far more comfortable than in summer, and it is no big problem to do more cold measures in winter, but it can really heat people in summer, and when it is hottest in summer, the temperature there can be as high as more than 70 degrees, and even birds dare not cross the sky above it.
Tuoba Mingde's caravan was not in charge of keeping vigil tonight, and their tents were set up in the interior of the circular camp.
After the tent was set up, Tuoba Mingde took Yu Jian, who was alias "Hu Qiqi", to inspect the unloaded and stacked goods at his house again, and then walked up on the sand, and when he saw other caravan leaders, he would greet them in a friendly manner, or stop and talk for a while.
He now attaches great importance to the relationship with these merchants, and dealing with them well will help him to take the next step, and he will follow these Shazhou magnates to retreat into Jiayuguan in the future, so as to play an internal role.
And Yu Jian is the object of his intention, so he often takes him with him now.
"How is it, can you still adapt to such a child?"
Tuoba Mingde asked Yu Jian with a smile, Yu Jian puffed up his chest and said, "Don't worry, master, I can still bear this bit of suffering." ” Tuoba Mingde smiled and patted him on the shoulder: "Don't worry, in two days, you will be in Luo Bu Naoer, when you get there, it will not be full of yellow sand, you can take a good rest, the women there are very beautiful, haha" Yu Jian asked, "Rob Bul" Tuoba Mingde said with a smile: "Well, it is a huge sea on the trade route of the Western Regions, where people do not grow grains, do not herd livestock, and only feed on small boats to fish, probably they are the only ones who live on fish in this world, but the people there are very long-lived, and they are still good laborers at the age of ten, and there are people who are still grooms and grooms at the age of 100."
Lop Nur was once the second largest salt water lake in China, its water area was 200,000 square kilometers at the largest, although it was smaller, there are tens of thousands of square kilometers of area, the area of China's largest freshwater lake is now about 4,000 square kilometers, so you can imagine the vastness and vastness of the waters of Lop Nur.
Yu Jian listened, but only wrote it down.
These merchants were accustomed to taking desert trade routes, and even so, each caravan was still equipped with a guide who trekked on the ancient silk road all year round, and Yu Jian followed them along the way, paying attention to the knowledge, such as the road, the water source, and the rest and sleep.
He deliberately revealed Xia Xun's itinerary to these Timur countries, because he wanted to borrow a knife to kill people and borrow their hands to get rid of the big opponent of Jinyiwei, but for Timur's Eastern Crusade, of course, he also regarded it as an enemy, Tuoba Mingde wanted to use him, he also wanted to use Tuoba Mingde, if he could borrow their knives to kill Xia Xun, and then inform them of some false information, induce the Timur army to make a wrong judgment, let the Ming army win a big battle, and even decide the success or failure of the battle in one fell swoop, isn't this a double win Therefore, he boldly followed into the desert, and three of his men took the opportunity to blend in with the other caravans and cooperate with him.
It is more difficult to infiltrate more people, because these caravans are afraid of infiltrating the horse thieves, and generally only recruit hired workers who know the roots, and occasionally when there are few people, they will recruit a few fresh faces, but there are definitely not too many.
There was already a fire in the felt bag, and it was warm.
Cooked food was also served, with delicious hand-grilled meat, roast lamb shank, milk skin, and some rice pasta, which was very hearty.
After settling his subordinates and inspecting the goods, Ying Zhan returned to the felt tent, and Miao Yi was sitting at the table, with a table full of dishes and wine, waiting for him to come back and dine together.
Ying Zhan smiled, sat down on the side of the small table, and asked Miao Yi: "How is it, the first time you go out of the house, are you still used to it?"
"What's not used to?"
Miao Yi raised her eyes and smiled at him: "Officials don't underestimate others, they and their mothers have traveled thousands of miles to cross the west of the river."
She is very relaxed now, "escaped" out of Dunhuang, avoided Yang Xu, it seems that her breath no longer has that feeling of suffocation, although the long journey is more difficult, what is it, when she comes back from Beshi Bali, Yang Xu should have returned to Jiayuguan from Hami, I believe that this is Yang Xu's only trip to the Western Regions, he will never come again in the future, she can still live a peaceful life.
Tranquility is now her greatest happiness.
As long as you never meet him again, fine.
Now, she has fled to Rob Naoer, she is going west, he is going north, it should never be possible to cross paths again, never To be continued: