The wind howl got louder and louder at night.
My eyes started to turn yellow.
Nothing can be seen.
The wind and sand were like knives, hitting my face painfully and making my clothes rustle.
At the end of the night journey, the camels simply closed their noses, sat down cross-legged, and refused to go any further. This is the natural reaction of desert camels. On windy days, they will sit together in groups to resist the wind and sand.
In this situation, there may be a way to survive in the face of light wind and sand.
But facing the night wind that was getting stronger and stronger before them, if they stayed where they were, they would most likely be buried in the sand.
Yali and his adjutant Sureti yelled in the roaring wind and sand, urging everyone to follow the team and monitor each other to see if anyone was lost.
But as soon as they opened their mouths, they ate mouthfuls of sand without even covering their mouths with facecloths. After accidentally swallowing a few mouthfuls of dry sand, their throats soon became hoarse until they could no longer make any sound, so they could only
He kept gesturing in the yellow wind and sand.
Originally, Jin An wanted to stay in the front and be responsible for taking the lead in breaking the wind, but those sheep could not keep up with the speed of the camel team, and his light body could easily be blown away by the wind and sand. He had no choice but to stay at the end of the team and be responsible for taking care of everyone in the team.
members to prevent people or camels from getting lost.
This made Yali and Sureti, who were in charge of breaking the wind, miserable. In the end, not only did they not have the strength to shout, they even had no strength to gesture.
Ari felt like he was almost under pressure.
Jin An, who was at the rear of the camel team, saw that this was not the way to go down, and the people in front would be exhausted sooner or later, so he led the goat to the front of the team, handed the reins to Yali and Sureti, and asked them to hold them together.
At this time, the wind and sand continued to get bigger, making it difficult for people to even open their eyes.
Jin An turned his back to the wind and sand and shouted to the two of them: "This goat is very strong. Even a few men can't fight it. Let it be responsible for breaking the wind for the team, which can reduce your pressure!"
The wind and sand were so strong that it was as if the devils under the sand had escaped. Their ears were filled with the sound of ghosts crying and wolf howling. The two of them did not hear clearly what Jin An was saying until Jin An repeated it twice in a louder voice.
I finally understood what Jin An meant.
Both of them looked at the goat in front, as strong as a muscular cow, in surprise.
Seeing the two people looking at the majestic and strong goat from behind, with scruples on their faces, Jin An shouted to them: "Don't be scrupulous, just chase it away... Less than half of the hay and water we carried along the way went into its belly. This is called
It takes a thousand days to raise an army but only a short time to use it...Everyone in the team is working hard, even every camel is paying. It eats the most, so of course it has to pay the most..."
Jin An's voice was shouting intermittently in the wind and sand. It was really unpleasant to eat sand.
"mouth……"
Before the goat even finished bleating as if to express its protest, Jin An punched it back.
Then the camel team continued to move forward.
With the tall goat breaking the wind in front, the team was much more relaxed. It was so easy for Yali and Sureti to huddle behind the goat.
For a moment, the two of them had an illusion.
I feel like the desert wind season in November is nothing special.
Of course, the two people who grew up in the desert would not really underestimate the power of the desert, especially in the windy season after November.
With the goat in charge of breaking the wind in front, Jin An took out the water bottle and Qi and blood pills when he had time, and began to warm everyone and the camel with water.
The desert in November is not only windy, but also has a large temperature difference between day and night, making the weather colder than other places.
After being busy for a while, Jin An returned to the back of the team and continued to keep an eye on the three slowest sheep in the team to prevent anyone from falling behind.
Perhaps it was because they had begun to penetrate deep into the desert and there were few human traces. They could not find even a shelter from the wind along the way.
If it weren't for the qi and blood pills given by Jin An to ward off the cold and replenish energy, even the iron-clad soldiers would have collapsed from exhaustion.
In the second half of the night, the desert wind and sand reached their peak, and no other sound could be heard except the roar of the wind.
At this time, the camel team had no choice but to continue on their way. If they did not bite the bullet and continue on their way, they would definitely be buried under the sand.
When it comes to eating people in the desert, they never spit out bones.
At this time, everyone in the camel team, whether they were humans, camels or sheep, had a look of disgrace, with handfuls of sand in their hair, and everyone was in a miserable state.
The team didn't know how long they had been walking. Suddenly, Jin An, who had the best eyesight, discovered that a black shadow was vaguely visible in the wind and sand in front of them. Later, even others discovered the black shadow.
The demoralized team suddenly regained their morale.
The black shadow was huge and looked like a mountain. There must be a place where they could take shelter from the wind.
But after half an hour of walking, the huge black shadow like a mountain was still vaguely visible in the wind and sand, showing no intention of getting closer.
In such bad weather, time has no meaning, and I don’t know how long it will take to walk. About ten miles? About a hundred miles? Everyone is left to rush along numbly, their brains are confused and their reactions are slow.
Suddenly, someone in the team fell down. Fortunately, that person was right behind Yali and Sureti, so they quickly jumped off the camel to help him.
As a result, I couldn't help him up no matter how hard I tried.
Jin An found that the team's progress had slowed down. After he tied the sheep to the camel team tightly, he got off the camel and walked forward against the wind. At this time, the speed of the camel's four legs was not as fast as his two legs.
Arriving at the front, Jin An found Yali, Sureti and a few others struggling to help a fallen man. In such a short delay, the sand had already been buried up to his ankles.
I don't know why, but several people tried their best and couldn't help up the fallen people. Instead, they just delayed, and another person couldn't be helped up after falling.
People fell down one after another and could not be helped up, and the team suddenly became chaotic.
"What's going on?"
Jin An covered his face with his hands, grabbed Yari and shouted loudly.
The wind roared in his ears. Ari put his ear close to Jin An's and shouted loudly: "There is someone under the sand! Someone grabbed our man's feet. The sand was too thick and sucked him in, and he couldn't pull out!"
Ari and others wanted to save people, but no matter how hard they dug the sand, they couldn't keep up with the speed of the sand, and instead the people were buried deeper and deeper.
After hearing a brief introduction to the situation, Jin An planned to pull the person out himself. Someone immediately stopped him and said that after a person is trapped in sand or mud, he must not forcefully pull it out. The suction force underneath is too strong and can easily injure the person.
.
Next, Jin An took the shovel and, against the roar of the wind and the squinting sand, held the diagonal corner of the shovel to dig sand.
This has the advantage of preventing the shovel from injuring people under the sand and minimizing the damage.
Jin An was much stronger than ordinary people and could shovel sand very quickly. With his participation, his feet were dug out quickly, and a person was dug out from under the sand.
With Jin An joining in, the two people trapped in the sand were quickly rescued, and three strangers were dug out from under the sand.
"Taoist Master Jin'an, they were buried in the sand for too long and suffocated to death!" Yali said in a depressed mood.
The three people dug out by Jin'an were all dressed like ordinary merchants from the Western Regions. They must have been part of a caravan like them, anxious to find a shelter from the wind. As a result, the team got separated, and these people were exhausted in the end.
All fell down.
Then I happened to be bumped into by them.
At this time, Sureti, who could not speak Chinese, shouted to Yali a few times into the roaring wind, and then Yali told Jin'an: "Taoist Priest Jin'an... Sureti said... he felt that these three businessmen
The direction we fell down was the same as the direction we were going. We were all rushing towards the huge black shadow in the wind and sand... We all wanted to go to the black shadow to take shelter from the wind, but as a result, we would never be able to stand up again once we fell!
"
In such a strong wind, meeting three recently deceased people at once was a huge blow to the morale of the team.
At this time, everyone couldn't help but have self-doubt. Do they really want to continue moving forward? Those black shadows can't reach the end no matter how far they go. Will they, like the three Western Region businessmen, eventually collapse from exhaustion?
But just for a moment of hesitation, the sand beneath my feet became more buried.
Jin An's expression darkened.
He continued to send the team on their way.
Even if Wangshan kills the camel, they must continue on the road and must not stay where they are. Staying where they are will mean death.
No matter what lies ahead, the team is now exhausted and demoralized. There must be a goal for everyone to continue moving forward, and they must find a place to escape the wind and sand.
Fortunately, the wind and sand were obviously reducing. At this time, the huge black shadow behind the wind and sand became more and more clear. After the wind and sand became smaller, they were getting closer and closer to the huge black shadow.
It was actually a huge desert city!
As you get closer, you can see the majesty of the giant city more clearly. Although it is just a dilapidated and abandoned earth city with broken walls, you can still see the splendor and grandeur of its heyday.
"Taoist Master Jin'an, we may have gone in the wrong direction!" Old Sadiq, who was struggling to follow the camel team, suddenly shouted to Jin'an as he looked at the desert giant city that became increasingly clear behind the wind and sand.
Jin An: "What's going on?"
Old Sadiq said solemnly: "In the direction of Xituo Kingdom, I followed the caravan dozens of times when I was young. I remember clearly all the scenery along the way, but there are absolutely no such large ancient city ruins!"
To be continued...