After about half a day's drive, six domineering desert off-road vehicles finally drove to the legendary ancient city of Loulan full of psychedelic colors.

Everyone jumped off the vehicle and looked at everything in front of them with a solemn expression. This contained past history and passing time.

The plane of the ancient city is nearly square, and has experienced thousands of years of wind and sand erosion, and is almost entirely hidden by quicksand.

The city wall is built with clay and red willow branches, and an ancient canal runs across the city from northwest to southeast.

An octagonal dome adobe pagoda sits quietly in the northeast corner of the ancient city. This is the tallest building in the ancient city of Loulan - Yadan Pagoda.

There are three large wooden adobe houses in the southwest of the canal ruins. Back then, archaeologists had excavated a large number of cultural relics under these walls, which were probably the remains of the government offices in Loulan at that time.

From the three rooms to the west, there are the remains of several private houses, and the scale of the house is still clearly visible. Poplar wood boards, red willow branches, and black or red pottery pieces are scattered everywhere on the ground.

More than 1,000 years have passed, and they are still preserved intact, as if telling us the prosperity and glory of the ancient city of Loulan back then.

"This is the legendary ancient city of Loulan. It's so mysterious and shocking." Looking at the scenery in front of you, everyone couldn't help but sigh.

"Why did Loulan, which was once so prosperous, suddenly disappear?" Chen Xi asked with emotion after looking around.

"In 400 AD, the monk Faxian traveled west to obtain scriptures and passed by this place. In "Records of the Buddha Kingdom", he said that this place was "no birds above and no beasts below, and they were everywhere, only with the dead bones as the mark. As a result, Loulan, a major town on the Silk Road, gradually disappeared from people after nearly 500 years of glory, disappeared silently on the stage of history." Professor Zhang Wenming, who was standing beside him, looked at everyone and then told them calmly.

"As for the reason for the demise of the ancient Loulan Kingdom, it is still an unsolved mystery." Professor Zhang continued, "The Water Classic Notes" records that after the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Loulan people blindly cut off and cut off soil and water erosion, which led to the diversion of the Zhubin River in the middle of the Tarim River, resulting in severe water shortage in Loulan. Although the Loulan people made the greatest efforts and attempts to dredge the river, the Loulan ancient city was eventually abandoned due to the water cut. In addition, there is another thing that is certain, it was the plague that gave the Loulan people the last blow."

After saying this, Professor Zhang Wenming sighed, and everyone sighed.

No matter what the reason is, the once glorious ancient city of Loulan has indeed disappeared silently from history forever.

Although the fleeing Loulan people had dreams of resurrecting Loulan from generation to generation.

But dreams can only be dreams.

In the end, Loulan is still a territory of wind and sand, a country of death.

............

"Professor Zhang, that is the Yadan Pagoda mentioned in the biwen." Lin Feng said, pointing at the adobe pagoda in the northeast corner of the ancient city.

"Well~, I don't like others calling me a professor. The word "profession" has been ruined by you young people. Call me Teacher Zhang or Director Zhang." Zhang Wenming paused and looked at everyone and said.

"Ha, Director Zhang, this title is good. Our company is not short of an instructor. "The person who speaks is a strong and dark-skinned officer. He is the company commander Wang Wei, the person in charge of the army.

"Hello, Commander Zhang, Hello, Commander Wang." Everyone smiled and agreed.

In the northeast corner of Loulan Ancient City, an octahedral pagoda stands alone on the sand.

The pagoda is made of adobe and red willow branches, with a remaining height of 10.4 meters. At the bottom there is a layer of adobe masonry base, with a square tower foundation, all of which are rammed earth, and divided into three layers. On the south side there are stairs for people to climb.

There are some logs and square wood scattered on the foundation of the tower, which seems to be the original architectural relics. The rammed earth on the foundation of the tower is mixed with pottery pieces, and some are mixed with soil blocks.

Judging from the shape of the stupa, the octahedral pagoda adopts the typical Gandhara style (a stupa style originated from ancient India).

"This pagoda has been destroyed by wind and sand, which is very different from what I imagined." Lu Qinglian showed a disappointed look when she saw the pagoda.

"The pagoda is also desolate. How can we find the square location near the pagoda that was nearly two thousand years ago?" Chen Xi asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"I have research materials on the pagoda cultural relics discovered by other archaeologists in the past, but they have nothing to do with the square mentioned in the wall text." Director Zhang said intently, "Lin Feng, you and I will climb the tower and check it carefully to find clues. Corps Wang, Wei Chen, you can organize your manpower and conduct a carpet search within one kilometer of the pagoda."

"Okay, the sun is about to set. Today we will strive to complete part of the exploration work first." Corps Wang nodded in agreement.

Afterwards, Yuan Shichen and others first built a tent camp with the soldiers, and then divided the corresponding exploration areas according to their area.

The sunset in the desert is also a beautiful sight.

Before the busy people could enjoy it, the sun, which had been rushing around the vast sea of ​​sand for a day, had slowly sunk into the sky.

When the desert gradually became quiet, a bright moon quietly poked out from the horizon and sprinkled a cold moonlight.

Unfortunately, so far, no valuable discoveries have been made.

Everyone finally stopped the search work, ended the day of hard work, relaxed, and slowly integrated into this mysterious desert.

............

Accompanied by the hazy moonlight and the cool night breeze, Yuan Shichen seemed to look up at the pagoda not far away and sighed softly.

The remains of the Loulan Pagoda seem to become more lonely under the starry sky at night. The night wind blows through the ancient pagoda and makes a whimpering sound like a throat, as if telling the various experiences of the past thousand years.

Yuan Shichen came to the tower, looked at it silently, reached out to touch the pagoda, and the scorching breath of the day had already dissipated.

A cold feeling penetrates the palm of your hand and reaches the depths of your mind, making your mind clear immediately...
Chapter completed!