On March 18, Zhao Ziliang and others rested for a few days in the State of Shi before continuing their journey to the west.
King Si Jinti of the State of Shi led all his officials ten miles outside the city.
Zhao Ziliang reined in his horse, and Si Jinti cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, there is a saying in the Tang Dynasty that we must send you off a thousand miles away, and you must say goodbye eventually.
Your Majesty and all the officials, please come back."
Si Jinti nodded and said: "In that case, I have sent someone not far away to bring you the gift I dedicated to the emperor."
A minister waved his hand, and several carriages drove up.
The first carriage was very luxurious, but you couldn't see what was inside.
The second and third carriages each had a large iron cage.
The iron cage of the second carriage There was a male lion in the cage.
The lion was walking around in the cage, staring at Zhao Ziliang and others with ferocious eyes.
The iron cage on the third carriage contained three fire rats, which were squeaking and screaming.
The fourth carriage contained some other local products, all of which were rare and not found in the Tang Dynasty.
Zhao Ziliang pointed to the first carriage and asked: "Your Majesty, this is" Si Jinti waved his hand, and an attendant stepped forward to open the curtain on the carriage.
He saw a woman in full dress sitting in the carriage.
The woman was extremely beautiful, extremely beautiful, and had a strong exotic aura. , Zhao Ziliang and others kept swallowing their saliva.
Si Jinti was very proud and introduced: "She is the granddaughter of my king.
Her father is from the Cao Kingdom, and her mother is my eldest daughter.
She was born in my country of Shi, so she is both a Cao and a Shi country." , how is it, general, how does she look like”.
Zhao Ziliang said blankly: "The city is beautiful and the country is beautiful."
"Hahaha, other gifts are nothing.
Not only is this woman extremely beautiful, but she can also perform a good Hu Xuan dance.
She is the national treasure of our country of history.
Now I will give her to the Emperor of Tang Dynasty first to show my respect."
Zhao Ziliang quickly handed over his hand: "General, on behalf of His Majesty, I would like to thank you for your kindness.
Your Majesty, please come back.
I will say goodbye later."
"General, go slowly.
Let's meet at the foot of Suiye City on August 15th."
Zhao Ziliang waved his hand, and the delegation left Shi Guo and continued to move west.
If you continue 200 miles south from Shiguo, you will find the famous Iron Gate Pass.
There are high mountains on both sides.
The rock walls are black iron color.
There are door leaves reinforced with iron.
There are a large number of bells hanging on the windows, such as If someone seizes the pass, the bell will ring.
Because of its strong strength, it is named Iron Gate Pass.
This Iron Gate Pass is not the Iron Gate Pass in China, but in southern Uzbekistan in later generations.
After passing the Iron Gate Pass, heading south is the Tocharian Kingdom.
When Xuanzang traveled to the west more than a hundred years ago, Tocharoran was divided into twenty-seven small kingdoms because the royal family was extinct and there were many powerful chiefs in the country.
These twenty-seven small countries usually have constant friction, but they are still relatively loyal to the Tang Dynasty.
Zhao Ziliang and his party did not continue to go south, but to the west.
There was a small country on the Dumo River one hundred and eighty miles west of Shiguo called Xiaoshiguo, also called Nasebo.
The day before arriving at Nasebo, the mission camped by the Dumo River.
When setting off from Shiguo, Zhao Ziliang had arranged for Chen Qingying and her daughter to take care of the daily life of Sjinti's granddaughter, but the woman was not easy to take care of. , often causing trouble to Chen Qingying and her daughter.
In the first two days, this woman made a lot of noise, lost her temper, refused to eat or drink, and lost a lot of weight.
Later, she finally drank something thin and stopped making noises, but her behavior was completely different.
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After the previous explosion, like a fierce horse turned into a sick horse, the whole person became taciturn.
The two accompanying maids were anxious and tried to persuade him, but to no avail.
"General, please think of a solution quickly.
If that woman continues like this, she will die on the road soon," Chen Qingying said to Zhao Ziliang with some worry.
Zhao Ziliang frowned when he heard this, stood up and walked out.
Chen Qingying was stunned and quickly followed out.
The two of them soon arrived at the carriage.
Zhao Ziliang waved to the carriage, and Chen Qingying immediately stepped forward and opened the curtain.
The woman and two maids in the carriage appeared in front of her.
She was really haggard.
This was the beauty that King Si Jinti of the Kingdom of Shi State presented to Emperor Xuanzong.
If on the way If something happened, he, a guerrilla general, would be afraid of his life.
After the door curtain was opened, the woman on the carriage slowly raised her head.
When she saw Zhao Ziliang, who was tall and burly, wearing a mighty armor, with a sinister face and a knife hilt in his hand, he looked very frightened.
She couldn't help but look towards him.
He shrank back.
Zhao Ziliang saw the other party's reaction and realized that he might have scared the other party.
He took a step back, lowered his hand holding the handle of the knife, and asked, "What's your name?"
The woman: "" Zhao Ziliang was a little puzzled when there was no response.
Then Chen Qingying said: "General, she can't understand us."
I don’t understand Chinese, how can I communicate like this?
Zhao Ziliang scratched the back of his head and remembered, isn’t that guy Balu a Sogdian?
He said to a follower behind him: “Go and call Balu here.”
"promise" Balu rushed over quickly, "General, you are looking for me."
Zhao Ziliang nodded: "Well, I have something to say to her, but she can't understand me.
You can act as the translator."
Balu agreed: "Yes" Zhao Ziliang purred at the woman: "Ask her what her name is."
Balu did as he was told and asked again in Sogdian.
The woman hesitated for a moment, then jabbered, and Balu translated: "General, she said her name is Ye Na, Cao Ye Na."
Zhao Ziliang touched his chin and said, "Why does the name Cao Ye sound weird and a little familiar?
His father's surname is Cao."
Balu explained: "General, the name Ye Na is a relatively common name among us Sogdians.
It means the person you like the most.
Both men and women can call this name.
It just means that the man looks energetic and the woman looks good.
Beautiful.
As for surnames, people in the Cao Kingdom all have the surname Cao, people in the Kang state all have the surname Kang, people in the Mi state all have the surname Mi, and we Sogdians all take the name of our country as our surname."
"So that's it."
Zhao Ziliang suddenly realized.
People with the surname Cao have existed in the Central Plains since ancient times, and the Hu people who went to the East from the Cao Kingdom in Central Asia generally wrote their surname as Cao.
Just like the original people with the surname Cao in the Central Plains, their surnames were Kang, Mi, Shi, Shi, and A considerable number of people with the surname An are the Han people who came to the Central Plains from Central Asia with the nine surnames of Zhaowu.
Therefore, without detailed geographical research, it is generally difficult to distinguish whether they are original residents of China or immigrants from Central Asia.
Descendants of the Sogdians who came to China.
At this time, Zhao Ziliang suddenly remembered something, "Wait a minute, Cao Yena Cao Yena's biography of emperors and princesses in the New Tang Dynasty records: Princess Shou'an, born to Cao Yena Ji.
Princess Shou'an is the daughter of Emperor Xuanzong, her nickname She was called Chong Niang because Naji Cao Ye gave birth to her after only nine months of pregnancy, which made Xuanzong think she would die young.
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She was ordered to wear Taoist uniforms since she was a child.
Could it be that this Cao Ye was Cao Ye Na Ji, the foreign noble concubine of Xuanzong recorded in later history books?
It’s too much, it’s entirely possible that this woman is the Cao Ye Na Ji recorded in the history books.”
Thinking of this, Zhao Ziliang couldn't help but look at Cao Yena a few more times, thinking that nothing could happen to Cao Yena, and she must be sent to Chang'an safely.
After thinking about it for a while, Zhao Ziliang said to Balu: "Tell her, no matter what the reason is that she refuses to eat or drink, since she was given to our emperor by King Shi, her life is not her own.
If it is because of her If something unexpected happens on the road due to his own reasons, the emperor of our country will definitely vent his anger on Shi Guo and Cao Guo.
When the time comes, the army will arrive.
Below the city, the lives of Cao and Shi will be in ruins.
Since Shi and Cao are not immune, her parents and relatives will not be able to live well either.
Let her think clearly that it is because of her own petty temper that Shi and Cao have been ruined.
The country suffered unnecessary losses, but it was still necessary to cheer up, eat, take good care of one's body, and at the same time save Cao and Shi."
Balu immediately translated Zhao Ziliang's words in Sogdian.
Cao Yena was stunned after hearing this, and then his face became fierce, waving his hands and shouting.
Balu turned to Zhao Ziliang and said: "General, she said you can't do this.
Since she has been returned to your country, she has nothing to do with Cao State and Shi State.
If your country does this, it will be an act of banditry."
Zhao Ziliang sighed and said to Balu: "Tell her that it is not this general who makes the decision, but the superior emperor.
No one can guess the emperor's thoughts.
If she does not want to implicate other people, it is best to make the decision along the way.
Take care of yourself, otherwise no one will dare to take care of yourself.
What will the emperor do when he hears the news about her accident?"
This time, Cao Yena didn't speak for a long time after listening to Balu's translation.
It took a full five or six minutes before he picked up the porridge on a small table in the carriage and started drinking it.
Seeing that Cao Ye was finally starting to eat, Zhao Ziliang was finally relieved.
He was so happy that he ordered not to leave in the afternoon, and ordered everyone to camp where they were, and let the soldiers bathe and wash their clothes by the river to wash away the dust and tired.
Nasebo Kingdom had a general attitude towards the envoy and received Zhao Ziliang and his party with due etiquette.
However, when Zhao Ziliang proposed that Nasebo send troops to attack Tuqishi, King Nasebo simply rejected him.
Walking more than 250 miles to the northwest along the Dumo River from Nasebo Kingdom is the capital of Anguo, Alami City.
From there, walking more than 150 miles to the northeast from Alami City is Dong'an Kingdom.
From Dong'an The country is about one hundred and twenty miles southeast.
He State connected Eastern Sogdia and Western Sogdia and was in the middle of Eastern Sogdia.
Kang State, Cao State, Mi State, Shi State, and Shi State were all Eastern Sogdia, while An State, Dong'an State, Wu Di State, The countries of Mu and Huoxun are both Western Sogdia.
Zhao Ziliang and his party set out from Nasebo, passed through Anguo, Donganguo, and Heguo on the way, and arrived at Xicao.
After making a circle, they returned to Samat, the capital of Kangguo, to build a city, but they did not go further to the west to Wudi and Muguo. , Huo Xunguo, just as King Si Jinti of Shiguo expected, Sebo, Anguo, Donganguo and Heguo did not agree to Zhao Ziliang's sending troops to attack Tuqishi.
After a while, nearly two months had passed when he returned to Samajian, the capital of Kangju Kingdom.
By mid-May, seeing that there were only three months until August 15th, Zhao Ziliang did not dare to delay any longer.
After resting for two days at the end of Jiancheng City, we returned along the original route.
However, we did not go back to Shiguo.
Instead, we headed northeast along Yaoshashui from Caoguo to the lower reaches of Pearl River, only stopping briefly at the border of Bahanna.
After staying, return east to Toyun Castle.
Originally, Zhao Ziliang planned to let the mission return to Shule Town first, and he himself planned to take some people disguised as a caravan to go to Tuqishi to investigate the terrain, deployment of military forces, and defense facilities.
However, considering the important addition of Cao Yena to the team, Due to the safety of his characters, he had no choice but to give up his original plan and directly led the delegation back to Tuoyun Castle through the country of Ba Khan
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