"It's up to you!" Xu Mu didn't bother to pay attention to him. He had hardly slept in the past three days. Now was the most exhausted time, and he didn't even want to spend the energy to speak once.
It was almost noon, under the scorching sun, the big yellow horse could no longer go on and stopped moving regardless.
"Take a rest for an hour!" Faced with He Qizhou's pleading look, Xu Mu reluctantly announced that he would stop and rest.
He Qizhou quickly jumped off the camel, found a flat piece of sand, and used a hatchet to shovel away the hot sand on the surface. He shoveled a full two feet before giving up. Then he set up a tent on it and tied the four corners of the big blanket.
Tie it to the bamboo village and use bamboo poles to prop up the blanket, which is equivalent to adding an awning to the tent. I learned this trick from Zhu Gui, but the difference is that Zhu Gui props up his own military robe.
Rhubarb shrewdly lay down against the tent, just in time to use the blanket to block the harsh sunlight. The sand that had just been shoveled there was still cool. The two camels were not afraid of the scorching sun and found a place to lie down.
He Qizhou made a gesture to invite Xu Mu to rest in the tent, while he sat next to the rhubarb under the awning and drank water one by one. The series of actions just now made him sweat a lot. It was very hot at noon in the summer desert.
It's not as hot as usual.
Xu Mu hesitated for a moment, but he was not polite. He could not live up to He Qizhou's sincerity. Besides, people and horses really needed a better resting place, otherwise they might not be able to move fast in the next few days.
I took off my bamboo hat and entered the tent. The inside and outside were like two different worlds. After taking a sip of water, my whole body felt more comfortable than ever before, and a wave of sleepiness came over me unstoppably.
The tent was the smallest one for one person. Through the tent curtain, he saw He Qizhou still wiping sweat. Xu Mu gritted his teeth and whispered like a mosquito, you should come in and take shelter!
He Qizhou asked outside the tent: "I didn't hear you clearly, what did you say?"
"If you don't come in, pull him down!"
"Don't come in?" He Qizhou laughed, and then shouted: "No fool will come in!" After saying that, he quickly got into the tent, but found to his embarrassment that he couldn't even sit up straight.
Xu Mu lay down on one side and said with a blushing face: "You should also lie down for a while. Hey, turn around! Don't touch me!"
He Qizhou, who originally wanted to lie in the same direction as Xu Mu, had no choice but to turn around. The two of them were back to back, slightly curled up, feeling the warmth of the other's body, listening to the other's breathing, and fell asleep in the blink of an eye.
…
"Why don't you wake me up!" Xu Mu got out of the tent and saw that the sun had set and the blankets on the tent had been put away. He Qizhou had already left the tent and was feeding rhubarb with forage.
He Qizhou said: "Sharpening a knife is as good as chopping firewood, and it doesn't take less than an hour and a half. We don't sleep at night. Without the sun, we can walk faster. Rhubarb may also be more energetic!"
Xu Mu knew that He Qizhou was caring for him, and felt warm in his heart. He changed his harsh tone and said, "Then let's set off now. From now on, we will rest for two to three hours in the afternoon every day, and try not to stop at night."
"It's up to you!" He Qizhou said happily.
With adequate rest throughout the afternoon, the horses and people were much more energetic in the evening. He Qizhou made a rough calculation and found that he had walked more than fifty miles throughout the night. The weather also helped, and there was not a single sandstorm throughout the day.
The same situation continued for the next two days. The march went smoothly and the desert became flatter and flatter.
The daily nap is still the most comfortable time for the two of them, but occasionally there is a little more shouting from Mu:
"Move the grip!"
"Do you hear me? Turn around!"
"If you dare to raise your butt over again, I'll kill you."
…
On the evening of the third day, He Qizhou escaped from the tent. He didn't know when he turned around and put his arm around Xu Mu's waist. Xu Mu didn't want to let him go easily this time, so he pushed him up the sand dune, and then
The two were pleasantly surprised to find that due north, the originally blurry outline of the Altai Mountains became clearer. The mountains high in the west and low in the east could not be seen to the end. The white snow on the distant peaks shone with dazzling light under the reflection of the setting sun.
"We should be able to reach the foot of the mountain tomorrow morning." Xu Mu muttered, forgetting to chase He Qizhou.
Not long after leaving in the evening, the sound of camel bells suddenly came again. The two were overjoyed. Xu Mu left the team again to visit. This time Xu Mu came back not long after. He Qizhou found that a team of camels was following her far behind.
There were twelve of them in total, heading south in a line. Xu Mu ran back and sighed: "Maybe the camels abandoned by Mu Feng and the others couldn't find water, so they had to return to the racecourse. We'd better keep walking."
"Then will they die of thirst?" He Qizhou was a little worried.
Xu Mu said: "Probably not. People can survive without drinking water for two or three days. Camels can survive for almost a month. It is good news that they can go back."
At dawn, the two finally arrived at the end of the desert. In front of them was a large open area of sand, stones, and dry rivers. Behind the open area was the eastern foothills of the Altai Mountains. The mountains facing the desert formed an inward arc here.
It is shaped like a mountain and is more than ten miles long. The ravines on the hillside lead to the open land with a radius of dozens of miles. They should be formed by the streams that melted from the snowy mountains and flowed to this low-lying land.
But now, the rivers that were supposed to be gurgling streams have become scars on the mountains, and the grasslands where horses once galloped have become barren land. The entire south-facing hillside is covered with gravel and no grass grows.
The rhubarb suddenly began to neigh uncontrollably, and it was hard to tell whether it was sadness or joy. The two of them rode camels and continued towards the mountains. Along the way, dug holes could be seen from time to time in the middle of the river, ranging from three to four feet deep to one foot shallow.
No, without exception, the bottom was either gravel or rock formations. He Qizhou and Xu Mu knew that there was no need to try again. There had been no water here for an unknown number of days, and the severe drought in the past two years had turned this place into a desert.
"Linchuan and the others must have entered the mountain. There seems to be a lot of debris there. Let's go there and have a look." After walking for more than ten miles on the lowland, He Qizhou found a lot of similar things outside a wider ravine.
The same thing as the luggage carried by the camel caravan.
"Okay, let's go take a look." Xu Mu responded.
The two walked for another two or three miles and found that they were indeed abandoned tents and other objects. He Qizhou and Xu Mu got off the camels and explored hundreds of feet into the mountain along the waterway. They found several marks, either marks carved by knives or marks.
Some stones were piled up, and the traces were very new, so it was obviously done not long ago.
The two of them turned back and prepared to take Rhubarb into the mountains along the waterway. After unloading all the things on the camels, they found enough food for ten days and more than eighty kilograms of water. If they work together, they can last for ten days without any problem.
, but He Qizhou ignored Rhubarb. It now drinks a lot more water in a day than the two of them combined. In this way, the limit is that it can last for four days.
Xu Mu wanted to drive the two camels back to the racecourse, but no matter how hard he drove them, the two stupid guys refused to leave and were so angry that they wanted to curse.
He Qizhou thought for a while and said: "They will leave when they are desperate. Look at the camels we bumped into. They may have stayed around for three or four days. They should be fine. Let's go."
After saying that, he tied up all the items, including the tent, and carried them all behind his back. Xu Mu wanted to share some of the burden for him. He Qizhou smiled and explained that he had no time to practice recently, so mountaineering with heavy loads was a good opportunity. Xu Mu could only help himself.
It was up to him to go. Dahuang just carried some forage, millet and other food that he ate.
The two of them and the horse were ready. When He Qizhou led Dahuang towards the waterway, Dahuang was disobedient and refused to move forward, but insisted on going west. He Qizhou had an idea and thought that it might still remember to enter.
On the way to the mountain, I discussed with Xu Mu and continued to lead the way with Dahuang.
Xu Mu, who had tasted the sweetness, agreed to He Qizhou's idea without hesitation. The two of them followed Dahuang to the west along the foot of the mountain. However, after walking a few miles, Dahuang turned back to the east for about half a mile.
The two of them were worried that Dahuang had also forgotten the way into the mountain, but they didn't expect that the guy walked straight up the gravel-covered hillside. The two were overjoyed and hurriedly followed him up for dozens of feet.
The stone bones kept rolling down the hillside.
The mountain is getting steeper, and there are piles of gravel everywhere. Where is the road? Xu and He were very good at light work, but they were really worried about Dahuang who had climbed halfway up the mountain. Unexpectedly, the guy was still walking in a zigzag route.
It went upwards until it reached the top of a mountain hundreds of feet long before it stopped.
Suddenly, their eyes lit up. There were hills like this everywhere in front of them, but the terrain was getting higher and higher. When they looked up at the foot of the mountain just now, they thought it was just halfway up the mountain. They didn't expect that the tall mountain was actually
stacked like this.
Dahuang turned downwards and went all the way to the bottom of the valley. Then he stopped and walked through the mountains surrounded by hills and huge rocks. He Qizhou used the hatchet on the mountain wall every hundred steps.
Make a mark.
After such a long day, they were actually several times more tired than they were in the desert. The two of them had already lost their direction and had to let Dahuang lead the way. Finally finding an open space, He Qizhou set up the tent again and let both the people and the horse rest for a while.
It was evening again when we set off again. Not long after Dahuang led the way, the sky turned completely dark. What Ling He and Xu didn't expect was that Dahuang stopped walking and lay down on the spot to rest.
He Qizhou urged him many times, but Dahuang just didn't take a step forward. Xu Mu realized the possible reason. This place is different from the desert. The mountains are tall, the moonlight is sheltered, and it is dark and invisible. Dahuang must have known since he was a child not to go out at night.
The principle of walking is that if you fall off a cliff, you will be doomed.
He Qizhou suddenly realized it and stopped forcing it. He climbed up a nearby mountain and saw the same bare mountains and stone ridges all around. He couldn't help but feel a little chilled. After going down the mountain, he had to set up the tent again and asked Xu Mu to sleep with him.