Winter goes to spring, and in the blink of an eye, it is the fourth year of Tian'an, January 60 BC.This winter, the soldiers of the Western Expedition were in Jiuquan County, and the Marquis of Xi'an cherished the soldiers very much, and distributed thick cotton shirts to them to keep out the cold, and the training intensity was not large, so that everyone was frozen off their fingers in the harsh winter, and they couldn't even open the bow when they were fighting.Jiuquan County had fulfilled all the imagination of the young Wang Feng for Biansai, but when the army arrived in Dunhuang after the beginning of spring, he knew what the real Wild West was.This is a different scenery from the Central Plains, when there is no wind and sand, the sky is a shocking deep blue, there is not a single cloud, and the earthy yellow earth is set against the Gobi in the distance, there are sun-scorched stones on the Gobi, there are some shrubs and small grass piles, and there are also white salt-alkali flats.is so barren, no wonder there are only 40,000 people in the whole Dunhuang, which is not as good as a county in Wang Feng's hometown of Wei County.Standing on the Silk Road and looking north, you can also see the stretching Great Wall, like a long snake winding through the barren Gobi, blocking the flow of sand dunes, and jumping up to the steep high platform, raising beacons."
It is said that the Marquis of Xi'an, the Marquis of Longshu, and the Marquis of Tangyi are located in the north, so I just can't go and see it."
The one who spoke was the son of Guanglu doctor Feng Fengshi, Feng Yewang, who was also the direct boss of Wang Feng, the head of the small tun, and was not polite to Wang Feng at all.After the destruction of the Xiongnu, the garrison of the Great Wall was cut in half, and the Suichu returned to the towns and villages, which made the post stations and oases on both sides of the Silk Road more prosperous.After the army left Jiuquan, it brought its own dry food on the road, and the places along the way provided food and drink for hundreds of people at most, and the food and clothing of tens of thousands of troops could not afford it at all.But when passing by Hanging Springs, as he had done countless times in the past, Ren Hong had to stop for one night.Because this is his "hometown" in this era.The Hanging Spring is not much changed in the geographical scenery, the south is still white, black and red three mountain lines, respectively, the glacier is flourishing Qilian, the mountain rock steeply extends to the west to the three dangers near the Mingsha Mountain in Dunhuang City, and the grass does not grow, showing a strange brown-red flame mountain, and the Hanging Spring Oasis is like a piece of jade in this exotic land.The interior facilities were suddenly renewed, and a wall was built outside the old Dock Fort, which enlarged the Hanging Spring at least three times, and the walls were all freshly painted, and they were no longer the horse manure walls of the past.Only the poems left on the wall by the Marquis of Xi'an no one dared to cover up, and they also put reed curtains on the wall to cover them, so as to prevent the wind and sun from causing the wall skin to fall off and the handwriting fade.Ren Hong asked and found out that it was done by the former Dunhuang Taishou Zhen Kuai, this guy really had a hand in slapping the sycophants, and he almost made this place the same as the broken Sui, and made it the former residence of the Marquis of Xi'an.To Ren Hong's surprise, he actually found the little civet cat that he had raised many years ago in the warehouse of the hanging spring, but it is now an old civet cat, lazily lying on the top of the granary basking in the sun, and there are two little civet cats on the ground fighting mice."
It's not that one anymore, it's the children and grandchildren of that one."
Hanging Springs is still Xu Fengde, who has been in this position for many years.Ren Hong's calculation is also right, from the third year of Yuanfeng in 78 BC to the present eighteen or nineteen years, he has changed from a handsome young man to a greasy middle-aged man, the radish is also a dying old horse, and the life of the tanuki is shorter."
When does Xu Weng plan to step down?"
The army drank horses in the hanging spring outside, Ren Hong sat in the courtyard and drank a cup of turbid wine with Xu Fengde and chatted, he sent people to invite Xu Fengde to Chang'an to enjoy the blessings many times, but the old man refused, he said that he wanted to be buried in Dunhuang, the bottom of the foot board has taken root, and he is unwilling to go.Xu Fengde is also in his sixties, and Ren Hong's gray hair when he passed by here a few years ago is no longer easy to find, and his body is even more rickety, but the old man still wants to work for a few more years."
It's about almost forty years ago, when the old man first arrived in Hanging Springs, it happened to be the year when the Lord of Chu went to Wusun and his relatives."
Xu Fengde said with a smile: "In the past, Chang Hui passed through Hanging Spring several times, and the last time he entered Beijing to be a vassal country.After drinking with the old man, he said that the Xiongnu had been destroyed, and that the Lianwusun Hu annihilation painted by Emperor Xiaowu and the Marquis of Bowang had been achieved, and the Lord of Chu had also completed his mission and was about to return. ”"The old man ushered in more than 30 years, watching the Han Festival go west, and looking forward to their smooth return.The lord of Chu was also a gentle and friendly person back then, but he never returned, speaking of which, she is still the mother of the prince and his wife, how can the old decay not wait?
”"I thought that there was a beginning and an end, and I wanted to wait for the Lord of Chu to come back and pass by Hanging Springs, and the old man would say goodbye to the old man and go to Dunhuang City to enjoy happiness, but after waiting for five years, he has not come back."
This remark made Ren Hong and Yaoguang both a little moved and ashamed, and only told Xu Fengde: "Come on, Uncle Xu, that day is coming, and our westward expedition is to solve the Zhizhi border trouble once and for all, so that the Lord of Chu can return it with peace of mind." ”Xu Fengde bowed his head, looked at Ren Hong again, and asked with concern: "Then Xi'an Hou is going, when will he come back?"
Is it with the Lord of Chu?
In the face of Xu Fengde's inquiry, Ren Hong was a little difficult to speak, and Xu Fengde treated him like a nephew.Xu Fengde seemed to understand, only more than ten years ago, when Ren Hong was going to go to the Western Regions with Fu Jiezi, he brushed a layer of fine loess on his armor."
Ah Hong, no matter how far you go, don't forget that Hanging Springs is your hometown."
Ren Hong came out with his head up, and when he came out of the hanging spring, he immediately let people beat the drum and blow the trumpet, he had to go quickly, otherwise the tears would slide down his cheeks.And Xu Fengde, as he has done countless times in the past 30 years, took dozens of officials, pawns, cooks, slaves and maids with Hanging Spring, or stood on the dock wall, or walked out of the door with a cane, and saw off those who went under the scorching sun, all holding their hands and standing solemnly.Xu Fengde was even more supported by the pawn, his eyes stayed on the spear tip and flag of the Western Expeditionary Army for a long time, and the yak tail and flag were gently fluttering in the dry northwest wind.He saw Ren Hong sitting with his head tilted on the carriage, sitting with his back to the hanging spring for a long time, and when he was about to lose sight of the figure, the hussar general finally turned around, stood on the carriage, and waved his hand at the hanging spring.Xu Fengde also smiled and waved his hand, and then asked people to move the stool and sit on the dock, looking at the west for a long time without taking his eyes off.Half an hour later, tens of thousands of troops had all pulled out of camp and marched westward, and even the tail of the baggage troops was gone, and even the dust raised had fallen, leaving only the footprints of men and horses all over the ground.Dunhuang is windy, and in a few days, it will all blow away.But there are some things that can't be blown off or erased.The kitchen of Hanging Springs is already making rice, and the fragrance wafts out little by little, and what Ren Hong left in Hanging Springs is not only the famous dish "Ren Rooster" and "Daoyuan Meat" braised pork that have been widely circulated in Northwest and Chang'an.There is also the wall of the hanging spring, which has been densely packed, all of which are the side poems that Ren Duhu has written over the years, no matter where Ren Hong touched the scene and copied it, it will eventually return to the hanging spring, and Xu Fengde looked at it, and the word book was written on the wall of the dock!
The army had only been walking for an hour, and with the clanging bells, a caravan was slowly walking from the Silk Road towards Hanging Springs, and the Bactrian camels were stepping on the sand and gravel under their feet, and their bodies were full of silk, tea cakes and other goods.Time and the Silk Road are flowing, only the Hanging Spring is forever still, ushering in the send-off, decades like a day.And Xu Fengde also got up slowly, straightened his clothes, stood in front of the signboard of the hanging spring, and bowed his hand to the Han Dajia who came to salute at the head."
The wine has just been scalded in the center, can you come and have a cup of wine?"
A day after leaving Hanging Springs, Ren Hong arrived at Dunhuang County with a large army.Although the county guard has been replaced, but still eager, and the Suo clan and other clans in Dunhuang also followed the officials to greet each other outside the city, Ren Hong has long become a signboard of Dunhuang County, and the children of Dunhuang who have been promoted intentionally or unintentionally over the years are about to have a tun.In the eyes of many Dunhuang clans, Ren Hussar is simply their food and clothing.Dunhuang City is much more bustling than that year, with the Xiqiang, the Western Regions, and Mobei all pacified, Dunhuang is no longer a border fortress that may have a war at any time, but a passage post road.With the support of Ren Hong, the predecessor Taishou Zhen Kuai persuaded the imperial court to move the market from Yumen to Dunhuang City, which made the people of the Western Regions gallop to the post and never stop for time and months.Merchants and traders, Japanese money in the plug, foreign objects, all in Dunhuang concentrated trading, which naturally led to the economic prosperity of this place.But this prosperity was undermined more than a year ago."
It's all to blame for the Xiongnu thief Zhizhi, in Kangju day by day more and more arrogant, in order to take revenge on the Han Dynasty, conniving Kangju and the Huns to mess with the Silk Road west of the Green Mountains, not only robbing the Han people, the Sogdians, the rest of the people, and the Yueshi people are not avoidable, which makes the Silk Road depressed a lot, and the Hu merchants of the Western Regions who were in Dunhuang last year were at least half less than the year before!"
This made Dunhuang a lot less business taxes and business, so I heard that the imperial court had decided to levy Zhizhi, Dunhuang was the most positive response, from the officials to the people who benefited from the Silk Road, they were clamoring to let Zhi pay the price, and the Xiongnu and Kangju used their heads to compensate for the losses suffered by Dunhuang.And the various clans in Dunhuang also recommended their own children to Ren Hong, hoping to enter the army and follow Ren Hong to gild and mix military exploits.In the past, Ren Hong was vigilant and even avoided the matter of promoting the township party, but today he did not refuse, let the Dunhuang children who were willing to go west with the army converge, prepare their own horses and armor, and ordered the commander of Wei Sima Suoping, who was born in Dunhuang, to set off with the army as a recruit.Before leaving Dunhuang and leaving the Jade Gate in the west, Ren Hong also asked people to carry a small box of gold cakes and handed them to the Dunhuang Taishou, and made his intentions clear when he thought it was a bribe and was afraid to accept it."
Dunhuang is the hometown of General Ben, and I dare not forget it day and night.""
This time the Son of Heaven edict to the west, first there are five stars out of the east as a sign, when I was stationed in Jiuquan County, first dreamed of the five stars westward, passing through Dunhuang Sanwei Mountain, and then the army flag opened victorious, this auspicious omen also.So I recruited some craftsmen who were good at making murals to accompany the army, and the county guard hired more than 100 servants for me to provide food and drink, and let them open a cave on Sanwei Mountain. ”"Open a cave?"
The county guard of Dunhuang did not understand, after all, the first Buddhist cave in Dunhuang was excavated after 400 years in history.But now, Ren Hong has decided to take the lead, and the Mogao Grottoes in this historical plane may have nothing to do with Buddhism, but will write another spirit.The unique spirit of Dunhuang: explore the blend of hollowing and Ming!"
That's right, open a cave, and then make a mural in the cave."
This is Ren Hong's last gift to his hometown."
I want the majestic posture of the soldiers to go out on the wall, painted on the wall, forever in the world!"
PS: Chapter 2 is before 0:00.