Leaving Lanzhou and jumping over the ancient Great Wall, the farther west you go, the more desolate the scenery becomes.
No one could be seen on the long ancient silk road for half a day. There were only rows of poplar trees, pointing like swords at the sky. Some that had been dead for many years, some that had just grown to the thickness of the mouth of a bowl, and some that were ten feet tall, separated by hundreds of trees.
A tree grows taller and echoes from afar. It is a unique plant in the Western Regions. It lives for three thousand years, dies for three thousand years, and does not fall for three thousand years.
Wang Xun, the captain of the Zhaowu School of the Feilong Imperial Guard, was riding on a good Anxi horse, his palms never leaving the hilt of the knife at his waist. This road was not safe. Three days ago, when everyone passed by the snow-capped mountains, they were in a shelter from the wind.
More than 20 corpses were found. Each of them had their heads missing, and their death conditions were extremely horrifying. No valuables were left on the corpses, including the dentures in a fat man’s mouth. According to the guide who often walked this road, Mr.
Yue analyzed that the perpetrators should be a group of desert bandits, or the Tubo people living on the other side of the snow-capped mountains. Only they would be so greedy that they would even plunder the dentures of the deceased, and they would not care at all about the revenge of ghosts.
"Nonsense, there are no ghosts in this world!" Fang Ziling, the captain of the team, shrank his neck and loudly encouraged himself. Like Wang Xun, he had never been to a place more than fifty miles away from Chang'an since he was a child, but unexpectedly
, this time I walked thousands of miles. In the first ten days, I still felt the joy of leaving home for the first time. But now, I have been tortured by the journey and am almost crazy. When I hear the slightest disturbance, I instinctively think...
Draw the sword.
"Who said there are no ghosts? It's just that you haven't seen it!" Knowing that Fang Ziling was scared, the guide Lao Yue retorted deliberately and mysteriously, "One of my guys saw it at Puchang Beach the year before last. About midnight
At midnight, I first heard the cry of a woman in the sea, and then I saw a white figure walking out of the water. The guy was also smart. He immediately dug his nose into the sand, held his head with both hands and refused to raise his head.
It was easy to stay up until sunrise the next day. When I got up, I saw that most of the merchants I was traveling with were dead, and the remaining few were so insane that they didn’t even remember who they were!” (Note 1)
"Impossible, it must be your companion who is making up lies, or he is greedy for other people's money!" After listening to Lao Yue's vivid description, Fang Ziling's already haggard face turned pale, and he pressed the handle of the knife and shouted loudly. "Yes,
He must be motivated by wealth, so he came up with such despicable tricks..."
"Immortality is in the sky!" Lao Yue immediately raised his right hand and swore to the sky, "If those in our line of work are motivated by wealth, they will definitely get lost in the desert. Everyone who walks this road knows that the more you go, the more likely you will be.
If you go together with more people, you can ensure safety. If you go alone, you may die alone even if you are not targeted by wolves."
The last sentence is very powerful. No one is sure whether Changshengtian will punish the bad guys. But the loneliness of the journey is really painful. Before leaving Liangzhou, everyone can pass through one village or fortress every day on average, and they can't talk to the people inside.
People talk. On the more than 800 miles from Liangzhou to Suzhou, if you want to see a living person, you can only find it in the beacon towers under the command of the Hexi Jiedushi. And not all of those beacon towers have troops stationed inside.
, due to insufficient funding from the imperial court, many beacon towers used to guard against the Turks have long been abandoned. The high and thick earth walls are covered with large and small gaps, and every gap has traces of the west wind.
Therefore, the guide will not murder the caravan that hires him to lead the way, not only because he is in awe of the immortal sky, but also because he is afraid of loneliness. With his familiarity with the terrain, he can indeed murder all the merchants and escape with their property. The problem is, what happens next?
The thousands of miles down the road required him to walk from start to finish alone. Facing the same blue sky, the same yellow sand and the same traces of wind on the top of the hills every day, I was afraid that he would be gone before he saw the next oasis.
I was tortured to death by loneliness and went crazy.
"That's because he deliberately made up lies to scare people! He will save you from taking his job!" After all, he grew up in Chang'an City. Fang Ziling is not as easy to deceive as the natives of the Western Regions. After thinking for a while, he continued to talk to Lao Yue.
.
The guide Lao Yue shook his head and was too lazy to talk to him. "After encountering the ghost, my guy stopped working as a guide. He was lucky to come back alive. He was dragging a few madmen along with him in the desert.
He was stumbling around. If he hadn't happened to meet the cavalry under General Ge Shuhan, he would have turned into a pile of bones!"
At this time, Fang Ziteng was completely speechless. If he was seeking wealth and life, he would not have brought a few frightened businessmen back together. If he was making up lies to scare his colleagues, then he would have given up on this path of making a living.
, and for what?
Could it be that in this desert, it's really... Thinking of the mirage he saw yesterday morning, Fang Ziteng's heart trembled. Along the way, everyone saw too many strange and weird things, and they didn't dare to think deeply. If it was true,
If you are targeted by ghosts and gods, then everyone...
"Don't listen to his nonsense. We have never done anything untoward!" Seeing Fang Ziteng's face getting more and more uncomfortable, the gang leader Zheng Qingqing caught up to him and loudly encouraged him. "If you don't do anything untoward in your life, you won't be afraid of ghosts in the middle of the night.
Knock on the door. The few of us behave uprightly and walk straight, with three feet of awe-inspiring righteousness gathering above our heads..."
Before he could finish what he said, another gang member, Elder Zhou, immediately retorted angrily, "Stop talking nonsense. If you are doing something upright and walking straight, you shouldn't be unlucky, then we..."
After taking a look at the guide Lao Yue who was very close at hand, and the few Hexi warriors who were ordered to escort everyone not far away, he suddenly shut his mouth again. There are some things that the fewer people know about, the better, lest anyone take advantage of them.
Adding insult to injury.
This obviously guarded action made the guide Lao Yue very unhappy. He shrugged and walked away. If he hadn't offended the military master of the Hexi Jiedushi Mansion, he would not have wanted to take on this job. He led the army and provided business to the merchants.
There is a huge difference between leading the way. The former is basically a loss-making business, while the latter, as long as he is good at observing people, he can always get several times more reward in addition to the predetermined reward.
Seeing that Lao Zhou had driven away the only person who could talk to everyone to relieve their boredom, the gang leader Zheng was very unhappy. He turned around from his horse and complained in a low voice to his companions: "If you don't speak, who will think you are mute?
How do you know that our trip is not about fat men, so you have to think about evil things? I really want you to go alone, don't keep dragging us!"
"Stay tough!" Lao Zhou, who is known as the crow's mouth, immediately retorted, "It's not like you don't have eyes. Take a good look, who is on the business trip this time? How come all the brothers were at the Qujiang Pond in those days?
It’s worth it!”
It's not that Lao Zheng has never thought about this, but he can't believe that Gao Lishi would be so vicious. He hesitated for a moment and continued to retort, "You also said that we can't make it to Yangguan alive! My brother Shu, General, even kissed me
Soldiers have been sent out to escort us, if it is really what you think, why would he bother so much!"
Unlike pure generals such as Feng Changqing and Gao Xianzhi, Ge Shuhan, the governor of Hexi Jiedu, always knew how to deal with people. When his immediate boss Wang Zhongsi was unjustly imprisoned, his colleagues persuaded Ge Shuhan to bribe Li Linfu with a heavy sum of money to free his boss.
However, he himself insisted that this was a case handled by His Majesty the Emperor himself, and bribery could not solve the problem at all. When he was summoned back to the capital to report on his duties, he grabbed the corner of the emperor's clothes, kowtowed to bleed, and begged the other party to show his noble hand. Not only did the king get his wish, but the king
Zhongsi was released, and Ge Shuhan himself left a good impression on the emperor and civil and military officials as being "upright, loyal, and righteous to his friends." He was promoted to Longyou Jiedushi, replacing his old boss Wang Zhongsi in one fell swoop.
Location,.
After taking office, Ge Shuhan changed Wang Zhongsi's passive defense strategy and actively launched an attack on Tibet. He worked step by step and pushed his blade directly to the bank of Qinghai Lake. The Tubo invaded many times, but Ge Shuhan defeated them all with superior force.
He had no choice but to retreat to Dafeichuan. In the eighth year of Tianbao, Ge Shuhan led a force of 60,000 troops to attack and captured the important Tubo town of Shibao City at the cost of 15,000 people. He achieved a "great victory" and captured more than 400 enemy soldiers.
", completely blocking the passage for the Tibetan army to enter and leave the northeastern side of the plateau.
When the news came back to Chang'an, Prime Minister Li Linfu thought that Ge Shuhan was so happy that he had lost too many soldiers of the Tang army, and he begged the emperor to order his removal. Yang Guozhong, on the other hand, thought that Ge Shuhan had seized a strategic location to attack the plateau for the imperial court, and suggested that he should be replaced.
After some wrestling, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty accepted Yang Guozhong's suggestion and gave Geshu Han a thousand pieces of Shu brocade, a manor, and the title of Censor Yushi. Later, he also granted the title of Kaifu Yitong Sansi, Longyou and Hexi Festival.
Du envoy. Ge Shuhan also reciprocated the favor and supported Yang Guozhong in the struggle for power in the court, and did not take Li Linfu into consideration at all.
Because of this, Crow Mouth Lao Zhou insisted that everyone should be careful in the territory of Ge Shuhan, the governor of Hexi Province, to prevent the other party from being ordered to kill by Yang Guozhong. But now that everyone is about to leave the boundaries of Hexi Province, everything has been calm.
, the Hexi soldiers and horses who came to escort also behaved well, showing no signs of preparing to take action.
Thinking of this, several other colleagues also felt that Lao Zhou was worrying too much. They stepped forward and lowered their voices and said: "Old Zheng's words make sense. We are just a few stinky fish and shrimps. General Shu, my brother, just stretched out his hand."
If you can crush it with just one finger, why bother sending troops to escort it, hiring a guide on your behalf, and going through so much trouble?"
"Yeah, isn't this taking off your pants and farting?"
"You are stupid. He is not escorting us, he is escorting this batch of baggage!" Crow-mouthed Lao Zhou is always pessimistic about things and does not agree with his companions' opinions at all. "If this batch of baggage goes out under his rule,
This will definitely give people a reason to attack. So he sent us safely out of Hexi first, and then waited for us on the way back. When we were not prepared, click..."
He stretched out his hand and made a beheading gesture, which frightened several colleagues around him to shrink their necks. Unexpectedly, Fang Ziteng, the usually timid team leader, sneered after hearing this, and looked at everyone with contempt on his face.
"Are you scared?" Lao Zheng was so laughed that his heart went crazy, he slapped him in the face and asked in a low voice.
"You are the fools. It is unfounded to worry!" Fang Ziteng curled his lips and responded in a low voice, "Ghosts are difficult to deal with, but people may not be difficult to offend. As long as you follow me, I guarantee that not even a hair will be left behind!"
"Just you?" Lao Zhou, Lao Zheng and several other colleagues shook their heads slightly. After having been together for so long, everyone really didn't see that Fang Duizheng had any other skills besides being a good person.
"Have you seen it?" Seeing that everyone did not believe him, Fang Ziteng was not upset. He raised his chin to where Wang Xun was, and lowered his voice and explained: "Who is that, the young marquis of the Wang family, the Anxi Four Town Festival
Du is a disciple of Feng Shuai. Beyond Yang Pass, it is Feng Shuai’s territory. As long as we follow him closely at all times, we will not be afraid of being killed and silenced!"
"That's right!" It was as if the sun shone into the heart in an instant, and the dark clouds that had accumulated on everyone's faces for the past few days were swept away. Everyone had already heard about the history of Wang Xiaowei's fortune in private, and as long as they arrived at the territory of the Four Towns of Anxi
, who has the courage of a leopard and dares to take advantage of this person?
"Of course it was fine when I went there, but what will we do when we come back?" Crow-mouthed old Zhou felt uneasy, thought for a while, and continued to ask.
"If he doesn't come back, let's not come back either." Fang Ziteng smiled, with a proud look on his face, "For a long time, people have forgotten about that incident, and I will go back to Chang'an for a long time. I'll hide in Anxi for two years, and maybe I can make some achievements.
, finally returned home in glory!"
Note 1: Buddy is a slang term in the market, referring to peers and friends. Puchanghai, that is, Lop Nur.
