Chapter 101: Knowing the person, knowing the face but not the heart
The guard team from Laiyao marched to Dunhuang City. Some were stationed inside the city and some were stationed outside the city. Li Siye followed the rear guard, so naturally he could only camp outside the city.
However, Dunhuang City is a relatively prosperous city on the Silk Road. Even on the periphery of the city, there are five or six large-scale market towns, and stars surround Dunhuang City.
Li Siye and the others were stationed next to one of the market towns, and could see the Thousand Buddha Cave of Mogao Grottoes on the cliff in the distance. The yellow cliff was covered with caves of various sizes, and some of the cave entrances were being dug. Many people came from afar.
The ascetic monk, holding only a dead wood staff, a bowl and a hammer and chisel on his belt, joined in the project of digging the cave.
There are several temples nearby, which are very popular and open their doors to receive monks and artists from all over for free.
Li Siye really wanted to visit the Mogao Grottoes. Although he had been here several times in later generations, the original Mogao Grottoes, which had not been plundered or baptized by time, would definitely give him a different visual feast.
.
However, the guards at Laiyao were very strict in managing the army. When they entered the city in the evening, they issued an order that all sergeants must stay in the camp and were not allowed to go out at will. He had no choice but to resist such an impulse.
Although Tian Zhen and Teng Mu liked the market town of Dunhuang very much. In order not to leave a bad impression on their superiors, and at the same time not to cause trouble to Li Siye, they took the initiative to huddle in the sheep felt military tent and watched the deserting soldiers buying goods.
Come back with meat and wine.
Whenever he set up camp, Li Siye would find an open space, nail stakes on the ground, and meditate on Mo Dao's sword skills alone. He had already practiced the Heng Dao quite well, but there were too few things that Mo Dao could learn from.
There are many classics in the Imperial Palace in the East Palace, most of which are about sword techniques and 槊法. His current training combines some moves from the 槊法.
When Zhang Xiaojing was a soldier in the Western Regions, he was lucky enough to see the Mo Dao team training. According to Zhang Xiaojing, it was just a few simple movements, nothing more than chopping, stabbing, sweeping, and hanging. Other than that, there was no other Mo Dao team.
The swordsman's swordsmanship has been passed down.
Warriors are much worse than literati in terms of inheritance. When literati occasionally come across a beautiful poem, their first choice is to write it down. The poem can be passed down to future generations and become famous throughout the ages. After martial artists understand the profound moves
, the first choice turned out to be to hide it as a trump card, and it was also stipulated that the male should not be passed on to the female, and the inside should not be passed on to the outside. Some people even had to be brought to the coffin. Therefore, poetry promoted the prosperity of culture, and warriors passed it down
The effort is becoming increasingly rare.
His short-term exploration is not without success. At least he has developed the strength to split a wooden stake vertically. He can split a wooden stake as high as a person in half from head to toe. If this knife hits a living person, tsk tsk tsk, tsk tsk tsk, tsk tsk tsk.
It's simply unimaginable.
Although the rear army that Li Siye and others followed only consisted of one detachment, since it was the Imperial Guard's personal guard, the detachment was actually equivalent to the brigade rate.
His official name is Lu Qian, and he has a standard warrior-figure face, with two mustaches flying upward at an angle, and protruding eyeballs that are very unpleasant.
But this man seemed to be very willing to have a good relationship with Li Siye. He addressed himself as Li Suzheng and even demoted himself to a lower official. Everywhere he camped, he would definitely ask Li Siye to drink. Li Siye refused several times at first, but the other party
After repeated invitations, he felt that he was too cold and always refused to refute other people's reputation, which made the relationship between Pao and Ze very tense.
Li Siye no longer refused the other party's invitation. He was not a shy otaku himself, so he simply let go and ate and drank. He and Lu Qian became brothers. Their relationship became closer and closer day by day. They just had to burn incense and kowtow to form a bond of friendship.
He also felt that something was wrong. This sudden friendship came so quickly that he didn't even notice how this funny-looking junior officer started to approach him.
Li Siye didn't pay much attention to it. After all, he didn't have much money and nothing to use. Regardless of whether Lu Qian had ulterior motives or not, he had to be cautious and speak only a few words to people he met. Don't give it all away.
On the second day, the whole army broke out of camp and arrived at the gate of Yangguan City along the old Dunhuang Road. The team rode out from under the ancient earthen city wall of Yangguan and left the boundary of the sandbank. Oncoming was the vast Xizhou Desert.
Li Siye felt much more relaxed. Although the journey ahead was difficult, there were fewer people around him. He could find some sense of security in this loneliness.
After leaving Yangguan, there are several oases and water supply points on the road, all of which are located on the edge of the desert.
The last water replenishment point is the inn in Xizhou. It takes seven or eight days of trekking through the desert to reach the oasis near Devil City.
Since setting off from Chang'an, he has never had the chance to meet Lai Yao. Even if he landed at the last water source on the edge of the desert, Lai Yao has always been in the Chinese army and has never shown up once.
Facing the upcoming journey to the yellow sand, the soldiers were very calm. After all, they had walked this road countless times. They each began to replenish their dry food and water sources.
From the time Li Siye set out from Chang'an to now, he has only consumed the military rations of the protective team. The more than 60 compressed biscuits in his backpack have not been touched at all. Therefore, there is no need to prepare dry food. He only filled six cowhide water bags and waited.
Early the next morning, we set off with the army.
Lu Qian first came to Li Siye and said worriedly that it was their turn to escort the camels. He, the leader of the team, did not have many capable men. He wanted to borrow Teng Mu and Tian Zhen from Li Siye and let them each take a dozen people to take charge.
Protect the safety of the camel team.
It is said that people are short-tongued and soft-handed when taken. Li Siye had a dozen drinks with Lu Qian. How could he refuse such a small request? Besides, Teng Mu and Tian Zhen are walking on the road these days, so they have nothing to do.
When I heard that someone was willing to use them as an escort, I naturally volunteered as a first experience in my military career.
After Lu Qian pushed the two away, he started to invite Li Siye to drink.
It was getting late at this time, and a cold moon hung over the soft undulating sand dunes. The temperature difference between day and night in the desert was huge. Even in the military tent in the oasis, you could feel the cold wind carrying the sand grains.
Lu Qian carried a lot of private goods with him, and he traveled deep into the desert, and there was still so much alcohol.
While drinking heavily, he persuaded Li Siye to drink more: "Drink more, Brother Li. To be honest, this is my last inventory. When we enter the desert, you won't be able to drink it if you want."
Li Siye looked through the tent curtain swaying in the wind and saw that the camp outside was quiet. There was still one night before departure. It should be quieter, but it was too quiet.
He secretly kept an eye on it, picked up the wine cup and only tasted it briefly, and secretly poured out more than half of the rest. Anyway, the night was hazy, and the lights swaying in the wind were flickering on and off, and the two of them looked the same in each other's eyes.
Dark and unclear.
He drank with Lu Qian like this, wasting a whole bag of wine, and Lu Qian was so distressed that he clicked his tongue repeatedly.
In order to paralyze Li Siye, he really spent a lot of money. Now at the last moment, he was too lazy to perform perfunctorily. He sneered, picked up the wine cup and tasted it slowly, looked at Li Siye's swaying body and whispered: "
It’s time to fall down.”
Li Siye raised his finger and pointed at Lu Qian. Even though he drank a small amount of wine, his eyes were still dizzy. Before losing consciousness, he quietly untied the 哕Jue (a hook used to untie the rope) from his belt.
Stuffed into the cuffs under the arm guards, his eyelids were as heavy as lead, and his body fell backwards.
Lu Qian looked at him coldly from a high position, and ordered to his cronies outside: "Tie him to the poplar tree and wait for the wolves behind to do the dirty work."