"Thirty-five, thirty-six, a total of thirty-six horsemen."
This is the number of envoys that Ren Hong counted, it was really auspicious, and it was exactly the same as the number of people that Ban Chao brought when he went to the Western Regions.Fortunately, the felt hats he had made in the Dunhuang weaving room far exceeded this number, and before he set off from Hecang City at noon the next day, a top was distributed to the officials."
This is made for everyone, wearing a felt hat to protect against the sun and wind and sand when marching during the day, the sun is poisonous in the desert, and it is better to wear a felt hat."
Sun Shiwan and others saw that this hat was sewn from fur, and the brim was very large, which was a style that they had never seen before, and they felt weird, but it was really cool after wearing it.Cook, dog-headed military advisor, this is Ren Hong's position in the team after talking to Fu Jiezi yesterday.By the way, there is also a logistics captain, after all, in the past few months, Ren Hong has been teaching people to build naan pits and roast different flavors of naan for experiments in Hecang City, which is the equipment required by Zhang Luo's envoys.To go to Loulan, you have to pass through two large deserts, one is called Sanlongsha, and the other is called Bailongdui, all of which are hundreds of miles long, and you have to walk for more than ten days to go out, and arrive at Lop Nur where water and grass are abundant, which is the most dangerous part of the trip.Therefore, the envoys were very well prepared, considering the large temperature difference between day and night in the desert, and they should wear felt hats to prevent the sun during the day to avoid heat stroke and dizziness.At night, they had to wear thick felt hats learned from the Huns, hide in felt tents, and wrap themselves in rough wool blankets to withstand the cold winds that swept through the desert.Therefore, the clothes should also be prepared for summer clothes and winter clothes, and the feet have to work harder, the Central Plains people are accustomed to hemp shoes, kudzu shoes can not wear more, the sand is hot during the day to fry eggs, and the friction is very strong, a pair of shoes can be worn in a few days.You have to use the "Luoluo" that was also introduced to the Central Plains from the Hu people, that is, high-top leather shoes, the boots are more conducive to horseback riding, trekking in the sand, it is wear-resistant, and the boots are as high as the shins, and the sand can't get in.In addition to the usual clothes, armor and weapons are brought very much, Dunhuang County got the order of the imperial court, and spent a lot of blood for this operation, a set of iron armor per capita!
Coupled with all kinds of blades and arrows, he pulled three carriages, covering only sackcloth on the carriages, stacking grain bags, and disguised as grain and grass, after all, this was a peace mission.In the desert, there is no beacon place of the Han Dynasty, and don't expect to buy grain from the locals, everything is brought by yourself.Therefore, the five newly built naan pits in Hecang City worked day and night to bake three full carriages of freshly roasted naan, with various tastes: green onion naan, meat naan, goat milk naan, sesame naan, as long as you can think of it, you can make a few baskets.Naan can be soaked, boiled, fried, or eaten directly, and is the main dry food for this trip.Other people love to eat this thing, but Sun Shiwan looked at these so many naan, and felt that even though he was wearing a felt hat, he still felt a little dizzy.Fortunately, a few bags of the Han army's traditional military rations, qiǔbèi, and a dozen stone corns were added to the cart carrying grain: before entering Sanlongsha, the mission still had the capital to bury the kettle to make rice.In order to have a reasonable diet, in addition to a large number of dried vegetables, sauce, tempeh, and dried meat, everyone also saw a circle of strange food, which looked like animal intestines?
This is one of the two bags of food that Sun Shiwan brought to Ren Hong from Hanging Spring for Xia Dingmao, I thought that the other bag was also dried meat, but I didn't expect it to look like this after opening.Ren Hong wiped his saliva, he couldn't wait to eat, he introduced: "This is a sausage, made by Xia Weng Layue, the pig intestine is washed and poured into the meat to smoke and dry, after cooking, it is mellow and rich, the more you chew, the more fragrant it is, Lao Sun, do you want to taste it?"
”Sun Shiwan hurriedly refused.The guy who made the rice was a few military iron kettles, and Ren Hong also added two small iron pots into it, one new and the other old.The three people from Po Sui treated this old pot very kindly, Han Dangdang held it, and said with great emotion: "This pot is in Po Sui, I have blocked arrows for us, and I also helped Zhao Han'er shoot a Hun eagle archer!"
”"Condor shooters?"
Everyone was startled and looked at Zhao Han'er, but saw that he had no expression, leaned on the car to repair the bow, and only raised his head and said: "I didn't leave a head, which is equivalent to not killing." ”In short, the three of them had already used this pot as a lucky charm, repaired the broken place, and still brought it out.As for the utensils for drinking water and eating, pottery is not very convenient, and the cups and bowls are mostly made of poplar wood, which is light and easy to carry.Several carts of beans were also pulled for cattle, horses, and camels, but the animals had a great appetite, and the plan was not enough, and they could not find forage in the desert, so they were probably killed as they went.Things are stuffed to the brim, like moving, but the heaviest and most space-taking thing is the cowhide bag that holds water.They are hung on the camels, and now they are only half loaded, and they will be loaded again when they reach the Yumen Pass.It must be enough for humans and animals to use it for ten days, and all the water bladders combined are heavier than thirty-six iron armors!
There are also light things, such as bundles of fine silk, they come from the royal weaving room in Guanzhong, specially selected the patterns that the Loulan nobles like, and there are several boxes of gold cakes, which are all bait to tempt the king of Loulan So when he set off, in addition to the thirty-six people, there were twice as many animals in the convoy of the envoy group: 12 camels, 10 mules, 50 horses, and 10 carts.Today, they will go along the Shule River, from Hecang City to Yumen Pass, forty Han miles away, rest for the last night, and tomorrow they will leave the territory of the Han Dynasty and go to the mysterious Loulan Road, Fu Jiezi's old subordinates have walked back and forth at least once, so they have become numb to the scenery along the way, and they walked silently with their heads down.Only Zheng Ji, the new Huiji, was very curious about the scenery that was very different from Jiangdong, looking east and west, and seeing that there were plants, he would ask Ren Hong and Zhao Han'er how to call them locally, whether they could eat them, like a curious baby."
Ziqian is also going to the Western Regions for the first time?"
Ren Hong stepped forward and accosted him, how could this Zheng Ji have the same name as the first Western Regions Protector in history?
Could it be him?
I'm too young.Zheng Ji was also very interested in Ren Hong's peers, and responded: "My grandfather participated in the Battle of Dawan, I heard him say countless times in Hexi and the Western Regions, but it was the first time I had the opportunity to come and see it in person, but unfortunately the season is not right, I heard that the poplar forest after autumn is extremely beautiful?"
”It turned out to be the old pawn, but the two Dawan battles suffered heavy losses, and the memories left by ordinary soldiers are probably not as beautiful as the poplar forest after the autumn?
Ren Hong asked his doubts: "You are a southerner, you are not afraid of adapting to the water and soil, why did you apply?"
”Zheng Ji smiled and told Ren Hong a story."
I have a fellow villager named Zhu Maichen."
Zheng Ji speaks the dialect and has a very strong accent, and it often takes Ren Hong to understand a sentence twice, and it takes a lot of effort to understand the story intermittently.To the effect that Zhu Maichen, the auditor, was poor at home, had little ability except to be literate, was unwilling to be a small official, and did not manage the industry, he was still a poor ghost at the age of forty, and often made a living by cutting firewood and selling it in exchange for food.In the end, even his wife couldn't stand it, divorced Zhu Maichen, married someone else, Zhu Maichen became more and more depressed, and finally reached the point where he wanted his ex-wife and his new husband to help, and the top of his head was really green.Zhu Maichen finally got the opportunity, went to Chang'an, took the same path as Zhuang Zhu, was introduced to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, was appreciated, and directly worshiped as a doctor.Later, because of the strategy to pacify Dongyue, he served as the chief inspector, although Zhu Maichen was not very authentic, and deliberately killed his ex-wife after returning to his hometown, but later he was still honored as Jiuqing!
It's just that Zhu Maichen was finally dragged on his back after the death of his political rival Zhang Tang and died in Chang'an, but the story of his journey from a poor man to Jiuqing has become a popular inspirational legend in Huiji County."
But the world of filial piety has passed, like Gongsun Hong and Zhu Maichen, the court is white, and it is impossible to go to the court at night."
After the magnificent Han Wu era, the class of the Han Dynasty has gradually solidified, and every aspiring young man will encounter tangible or invisible walls in the process of climbing up.Zheng Ji looked ahead, his eyes blazing: "But there is such an opportunity in the Western Regions!"
”"Although I am the same villager as Zhu Maichen, what I really admire is Zhang Qian, the Marquis of Bowang!
Hollowing out the foreign land, and then sealing the liehous, it is enough to leave a name for future generations!
”"So when I met Fu Gong recruiting warriors in Chang'an, I signed up, relying on my grandfather's spirit, and joined the mission."
Ren Hong's head, Zheng Ji's thoughts were similar to his own, and then he looked back at the other thirty people in the envoy group.Except for the chief and deputy envoys, horsemen Xi Chongguo and a few other good families, the rest of the people, Sun Shiwan is an exiled prisoner, Lu Jiuyu is a businessman who has made meritorious service to atone for his crimes, Han Dangdang is a soldier who migrated because of witchcraft, and Zhao Han'er is a "Hu'er" who came back from outside the fortress and is not very popular.The rest of the people are similar, Ren Hong has asked, among them there are sons-in-law, slaves, amnesty criminals, evil boys, and torturers It can be said that in the eyes of those high-ranking nobles, the scum of the whole empire is concentrated here, and most of them have experienced misfortune and are depressed, so when Fu Jiezi's hand reaches over, he can only desperately seize this opportunity.Fu Jiezi is very picky, and the people he wants have all the skills, but in the system, he has nowhere to show it in the Central Plains, and he just wants to change his life through an adventure!"
In the Western Regions, it doesn't matter who you used to be."
Ren Hong silently read this sentence.The Western Regions is indeed a place where people can start over.Like the New World of the Age of Discovery, she awaits the discovery and exploration of the brave.And those who go there will either go to the top or die in the desert!"
Here we are."
Just as he was thinking about it, Zheng Ji stopped and pointed ahead with some excitement, his eyes full of longing."
I've heard this name countless times from my grandfather, and today I finally see it!"
Ren Hong could also see that a few miles away, there was an earth-colored fortress, standing alone at the end of the world, it was shining in the setting sun, just as it would still stand here for the next two thousand years.It has seen wars.I have seen the Han and Tang Dynasty Erlang angry through Haotian, ten people on the side and three people back.I once saw dust on the bank of the Shule River, and 100,000 iron horsemen knocked on the Xiongguan Pass.It has also experienced peace, the Silk Road through the city to both sides, the silky silk of the Central Plains has been shipped out from here, the warm Khotanese beauty jade from here into this life, Ren Hong is also the first time to come to such a westward position, and the feeling of travel in the previous life is completely different, a thousand words, for a time choked in the throat.Yes, no matter how much you read about it, you might as well see it for yourself.In this way, we can understand why this small mound in the blue sky and Gobi carries the Chinese's dream of a great power for 2,000 years."
Yumen Pass.""
Yumen Pass!"
PS: The second chapter is in the afternoon.