A man was sitting sideways on the back of a sheep, his face wrapped in a sand-proof turban, his figure wrapped in the long yellow sand and hot wind, slowly walking leisurely on the increasingly desolate desert around him.
He used one hand to block the dazzling sunlight above his head, and in the other hand he held a copy of the "Yin Yang Qing Sang Sutra" which teaches Feng Shui, and he read it leisurely.
The "Yin Yang Qing Sang Jing" and "Shen Feng Tong Kao" that Mr. Yi sent to Jin'an at the beginning became the only interest in the boring journey.
We are about to enter the desert of the Western Region, which is hundreds of miles away from the uninhabited land. Jin An feels that if he gets lost in the desert or lacks water and cannot find a water source, the "Yin Yang Qing Sang Sutra" may be able to help him.
What if this happens?
No one can say for sure?
Since leaving Huangzishan Village, I have almost slept in the open on the road to Jin'an. When I encounter a village, I will go to the village to buy some water and then continue on the road. If I can't find a place to sleep at night, I will find a leeward side and use the earth as my quilt.
Sleeping on the belly of a goat.
This vast land in the northwest is sparsely populated. Without water, there are no villages. It is common to travel dozens of miles without encountering a village, so sleeping in the open air is common.
Thanks to his strong physique and the fire poison internal energy to protect him from the cold, ordinary people would have froze to death in the Gobi desert where the temperature difference between day and night is huge.
Even the goats suffered a lot following him along the way.
I was freezing at night and heard the roar of wild beasts.
During the day, you have to carry people on your back.
If it weren't for the big blood-enhancing pills that Jin An had on him, this stupid sheep with a bad temper who refused to suffer would never have let people ride him.
This goat is more clever than the monkeys in Mount Emei.
I know that the blood-tonifying elixirs on Jin An’s body are good and very tonic.
It's like this goat's physique is bigger than it was in Wuzhou Fucheng a month and a half ago. Now it can no longer be said that it looks like a calf. It should be an old calf?
I don’t know if it’s because the northwest is vast and sparsely populated, and the further we go, the fewer people there are, or if the sunshine here is too strong and the fire is too strong, it’s as hot as the mountain of flames that Taishang Laojun’s Bagua furnace knocked over in the human world.
After traveling for half a month, I didn't even see a ghost.
Later, he thought about it, and maybe it had something to do with the fierce folk customs in the northwest, where the whole village, old and young, often built drought bones.
.
The feeble cry of the goat under the seat indicated that there was movement ahead. Jin An raised his eyes from the "Yin Yang Qing Sang Sutra" and looked into the distance. He saw dust rising in the sky ahead and a large group of villagers holding hoes and poles.
Jin'an let out a surprised sound, thinking that another villager was laying a drought bone pile to pray for rain. When he got closer, he found out that it was not a drought bone pile, but that the villagers were chasing a group of robbers.
There were three robbers in the group, two men and one woman. It looked like they lost their drinking water bags. They injured several villagers but failed to grab the water. The injured villagers immediately greeted them as soon as they returned to the village.
Folks and elders pursue and seek revenge along the way.
However, after chasing for a long time, they could not find the group of bandits. The wind and sand on the Gobi Desert had erased the traces again. Seeing that they could not catch up with the bandits, the group of villagers cursed and prepared to go back.
“Taoist priest, please be careful. Those bandits didn’t grab the water. If they are determined to be thieves, they may still stand on the road to block other people’s water.” A villager kindly reminded me.
Jin An clasped his fists in thanks for the reminder, and asked by the way how far it was from the frontier fortress. Finally, he heard some good news. If you keep walking forward for about three or four days, you will see several plateau snow-capped mountains.
You can see the Fortress.
In the next few days, Jin'an didn't encounter the three unlucky bandits who failed to grab water. He didn't know if he died of thirst in some Gobi desert. The Gobi was too big. A few people died in the desert.
The sand is equally inconspicuous.
The terrain characteristics of Xizhou Prefecture are like a long and narrow sharp knife piercing the Western Region. It can suppress the Western Region countries on the left and interrupt the expansion of the northern grassland tribes to the Western Region on the right. Strategically speaking, it completely blocks the Western Region and the Northern Grassland.
Tribal interactions.
The southern part of this long and narrow knife is bordered by Wuzhou Prefecture, which has abundant rainfall, and is surrounded by green mountains and green waters;
The eastern and eastern parts are eroded by wind and sand from the Western Regions all year round, so they become more and more arid as we go. The entire eastern part, that is, the entire blade is an earthy desert area.
And the tip of this long, khaki-colored knife is the border fortress guarding the Western Regions.
Yangguan.
Yangguan is a frontier fortress city, heavily guarded by troops. There is a small earthen castle town more than ten miles away from Yangguan. This is a gathering place for caravans or individuals entering and leaving the Western Regions. They can replenish water, dry food, camels and other supplies here before leaving the Western Regions.
.
You can go without food for several days in the desert, but you cannot go without camels or water.
In addition to merchants from the Western Regions, Tubao Town also has many merchants from Xizhou. Xizhou people are united, and local water, camels, dry food, fodder for camels and other materials are all monopolized by these locals.
Outsiders can also pay to hire guides here. These guides are either Han Chinese or people from the Western Regions who understand the Chinese language.
Jin'an did not spend money to hire a guide, because the place he was going to was deep in the desert, and it was useless to find an ordinary guide. He found a caravan that was preparing to enter the Western Regions.
However, those large caravans with many people did not want to pay attention to Jin An, a Taoist priest who was alone. His skin was tender and tender, and he had never experienced hardship or been in the desert. They had seen many such pampered Central Plains people. In the end,
They will all die in the desert. They don't lack that little money and don't want to cause too much trouble.
Simply put, Jin'an is a weakling in their eyes and will be held back in the desert.
Finally, Jin An spent money to bribe the leader of a small caravan, and the leader readily agreed to join him, and no one would have trouble with the money.
The leader's name is Batur, which means warrior in the Western Regions. He is a strong, bearded middle-aged man with a machete at his waist. Big Beard is a bold man, so Jin An directly calls him Big Beard.
The bearded leader and his caravan are all Westerners with tall noses, deep eye sockets, and straight facial features. They purchased porcelain, tea, silk, sugar, ironware and other trading goods in Kangding State, and planned to transport them to some countries in the Western Regions for sale.
, and then exchange them for luxury goods such as gems, pearls, and diamonds, and then bring them to Kangding for sale. The profit margin is very large. No one would run into the desert every day without dozens of times the profit to support them.
The caravan did not set off immediately. Big Beard said that they were a small caravan. In the past, they would team up with several small caravans to enter the Western Region. In addition to sandstorms, there were also sand thieves and wild beasts in the Western Region. There were too few merchants.
The team is as eye-catching as a lonely poplar tree in the desert.
Big Beard has already found two small caravans and said that he will find one or two more small caravans to form a team. If everything goes well, he can set off tomorrow and let Jin An find a place to stay in the Tubao Town first.
Tubao Town is very simple. The houses here are all made of one layer of loess walls. There are no triangular roofs or tiles. They are just square boxes. As soon as you walk into the town, all you see are camels.
The smell of feces and urine was foul, and the air was cloudy and unpleasant.
There are more camels than people in the town because more camels are needed to carry water for the team entering the desert.
The turbid air was so irritating to the eyes that Jin An ended up not living in the town, but just found a sheltered rock outside the town to spend the night.
…
The next morning.
Jin'an waited for Big Beard's notice as promised. The camel team will set off for the Western Region today. He brought a strong goat and three camels to the appointment. The three camels carried on their backs the dry food and food prepared for this trip to the desert.
The most important thing is to carry a lot of clean water.
Finally, this team consisting of three small caravans and a Taoist priest walked out of Tubao Town and set off towards Yangguan Pass.
Nearly two months have passed since the Yin Tomb of the Dojo was re-banned. The armies of the Western Regions countries that surrounded the border fortress have retreated. In the end, these Western Regions countries still did not have the courage to launch an attack on Kang Ding Kingdom. Except for a few feint attacks to test the reality and abandon the
There were hundreds of corpses. Seeing that there was no chance, these loose troops chose to retreat one after another.
It has been half a month since customs clearance was resumed at the border fortress, but it can still be seen that the garrison soldiers here have not relaxed their vigilance and strictly inspect all people entering and exiting the customs.
Camel bells are ringing, people are shouting, horses are neighing, caravans are coming, messengers are coming and going, it is a prosperous scene, the sun is bustling, this place does not seem to be a barren land at all.
"Taoist Priest, the Desert of the Western Regions is different from the Gobi Desert in Xizhou Prefecture. The Desert of the Western Regions is a hundred times, a thousand times more dangerous. Even the merchants of the Western Regions who are most familiar with the desert have many caravans staying in the desert permanently every year. Can you
You have to think twice before you act." With his sturdy body and bulging temples, he looks like a guard of elite soldiers who have fought in hundreds of battles. He has inspected Jin'an's Dao disc and the customs clearance document stamped by Lord Fu Yin. It is rare for Jin An to have a soothing look on his face.
Kindly reminded.
Others are not treated so well. Whether they are merchants from the Western Regions or merchants from Kangding, these officers and soldiers treat them equally and have bad tempers.
“Thank you for reminding me, I already know the dangers in the Western Region.” Jin An cupped his fists and bowed, and said with a warm smile.
“Well, you go over there.” The officer and soldier said nothing more, waved his comrades to let them go, and then continued to check the team behind them.
As for the goat, which was bigger than a calf, the officers and soldiers didn’t ask much except taking a second look.
They were guarding the border fortress. They had never seen any strange treasures or exotic animals in the Western Regions, so they were not too surprised by a larger goat.
Yangguan is a male pass guarding the gorge between the mountains. After leaving the pass, there is a flat and open Gobi plain.
As long as you hold on to the canyon, you will be able to defeat thousands of others. You don’t have to worry about anyone climbing over the nearby mountains and attacking Kangding.
This is the plateau Gobi Desert. When marching and fighting in the desert, you must walk along rivers or water sources to replenish water sources and identify directions in time. Crossing mountains and ridges in plateau areas consumes a lot of physical strength. There is only sand and no water source in the mountains. People and horses
Without water for half a day, he was left standing there waiting to die.
So if you want to enter Kangding Kingdom, you must first pass through Jiayuguan.
In the first few days after leaving Jiayuguan, the caravan had an easy journey, walking and singing. The songs contained exotic customs and customs, and coupled with the boundless sandstone fields next door, the exotic customs made the journey feel less like being in front of others.
For the Desert of Death, it looks like I am just out for fun.
But this kind of exotic interest made Jin An tired of seeing it in less than half a day. All he saw in front of him was the Gobi.
So I took out the "Yin Yang Qing Sang Jing" again to relieve the boredom on the road.
A few days later, the team gradually walked out of the Gobi. The surrounding environment began to be dominated by sand and desert. Next, they had to save water. According to Big Beard, their next water replenishment point will be available in half a month.
In the desert, except for the boundless sea of sand, there are no landmarks that can be used as reference points. A person falling into the sea of sand is like a drop in the ocean. It is easy to lose sight of the east, west, and west. Businessmen from the Western Regions like Big Beard have been dealing with the desert for generations.
He has his own way of finding his way in the desert.
"To identify the direction in the desert, first, rely on rivers or river valleys washed out by rivers, and second, rely on some scattered rocks and mountains in the desert." The bearded man is an enthusiastic and forthright desert man. He talked about everything along the way.
Introducing various strange things in the desert to Jin An.
"But relying on rock mountains to determine the direction is only useful outside the desert. Half a month later when we go deep into the desert, these rock mountains will no longer be visible. No matter how tall the majestic mountain is, it will be filled with desert in front of the sand that cannot be blown away for thousands of years.
Submerged, after going deep into the desert, we can only follow the desert river or the dried river bed. Once we leave the river or river bed, we will soon get lost in the sea of sand, and the only thing waiting for us is death from thirst or sunburn."
Seeing that Jin An was listening to him attentively, the bearded Batur rode on the back of the camel and continued: "I, the bearded man, am an honest man. Since I have received the money, I must take a seat belt, Taoist priest Jin An, where you can go."
Destination. But the weather in the desert can change at any time. Sometimes it is sunny, but in the blink of an eye there will be a sandstorm. The reason why I tell you these desert experiences to Taoist Jin'an is that if we get separated, Taoist Jin'an can be there in the desert.
If we survive, as long as we walk along the riverbed, even if we get separated, we will definitely be able to find Taoist Jin'an again."
Jin An was moved when he heard this and thanked the bearded man.
“You don’t need to thank me, you should thank me for the money.” The bearded man said humorously.