Chapter 9 Chapter 9 Oasis Style

At dawn, a round of red sun slowly rises from the east. At this time, the gravel land turns into billowing yellow sand. No matter which direction you look, it looks like that. There is no road or any signs. The only sign is a road that passed by not long ago. A pile of weathered camel skeletons, its twisted neck, seems to illustrate the struggle before death.The sun turned from a pleasing dawn to a fiery white light, and the sand became scorching hot. Except for Xueer, the other horses couldn't stand it. Everyone hurriedly set up camp to rest, and set up tents to let the horses hide in the tent Rest and cool off.

Longying comforted the horses one by one with magic energy, and the wind and rain and the wind and rain waited for them to wipe their bodies, drink water and feed the fodder they brought. Wan Renyu said: "Now I understand why here, everyone rides camels and not horses. The sand will burn their hooves, so we have to do something for them." Long Ying said confidently: "My internal energy can greatly increase their ability to resist heat, and the water in the horse's body will not leak out easily, but of course it is not as good as the camel that can store water in the body."

Feng Guoting said with pity: "It's time to reach Puchang Sea soon, they can rest and be happy in the oasis with lush water and grass." There was a sudden sound of the wind, and the condor descended from the sky. Feng Guoting moved out of the tent, stretched out his arm to let it land on the wrist, and sighed: "It also needs to drink and eat." For the next fifteen days, they still traveled day and night, the scenery did not change at all, only time slowed down, every scene was like a repetition of the previous scene, not only did not seem to have moved, time seemed to stop flowing, Deathly silence.

The three lost the mood to speak. When it was almost dawn, Feng Guoting let out a "huh" and looked up to the sky. The two imitated him and raised their heads to look at the light blue night sky. The condor was flying forward and quickly turned into a small black dot. Wan Renyu said happily: "I must have found an oasis with aquatic plants." Feng Guoting, who was familiar with Shenying's temperament, responded, "It must be so, let's not stop." Only those who have endured more than ten days in this arid area can understand their desire to be ahead. This time they learned how to behave and bandaged the hoofs of the horses one by one.Then continue the journey.

The scenery in front of him changed again. The dark yellow sand dunes stretched in all directions, and the horseshoes sank into the sand, making it impossible to run fast.The grains of sand glisten under the scorching sun, covered with watery ripples, and willows emerge from the sand occasionally. One cannot help admiring their tenacity, and they can grow in this horrible and lifeless area, embellishing endlessly. sand sea. Wan Renyu said as an experienced horse: "This is a snack before the feast. We have arrived at the edge of the Taklamakan." Feng Guoting said: "Do you know the way? Are you approaching the Puchang sea?"

Wan Renyu said: "No matter how many times I have passed by, I still can't recognize the way, because the Taklimakan is a sea of ​​sand that can flow. After waking up in the tent and stepping out, you will see a different scene. The river will suddenly stop flowing. The river disappeared and I thought I was in the wrong place." Longying smiled and said: "Oasis should be more reliable, my little brother has a sense!" Feng Guoting murmured: "I hope Puchanghai won't disappear suddenly. What I want most now is to kiss its green grassy land." Wan Renyu pointed to the front and said, "Look!"

The two followed him to look with full eyesight, and a pleasing green dot appeared on the horizon.Under the bright light, it is as real as it is illusory.In this arid world, a little green can become so heartbreakingly precious. A gust of wind blew up the yellow sand all over the sky, hitting the face, and the already dry eyes, ears, mouth and nose were even more uncomfortable.Fortunately, from that point of green to the river and grass, the hope ignited in my heart overwhelmed all the torture caused by sand. The three of them urged their horses to gallop, and the green dots turned into a line embedded in the horizon.Never had such a moment, the grass and trees could make them feel the ecstasy welling up from their hearts.

After the whole hour, when the sun crosses the mid-heaven.The green line eventually turned into a forest, with straight poplars and lush elms and locust trees, all close together, the branches and leaves rustling in the wind, and the feeling of moisture is brought by the wind. The horse became excited, and ran away without urging, the soft sand turned into solid ground, the front was green and verdant, and even the wind became cool and refreshing. The Taklamakan Desert, located in the center of the Tarim Basin, reaches the Puchang Sea in the east, the Kashi Oasis in the west, the Kunlun Mountains in the south, and the Tarim River in the north. It is the largest and most terrifying desert.Taklamakan is exactly "a place where you can't get out".

"There are no birds above, no beasts below, looking all over the eye, if you want to save the place, there is no way to draw it, but the dead man's bone is the symbol", so it has the title of "the sea of ​​death". In the hinterland of the desert lies the sacred mountain, stretching for more than a hundred miles, and reaching the bank of the Khotan River at the east end. The sandstone has been weathered for a long time, forming a series of strangely shaped rock statues that look like natural gods. In stark contrast are the many rivers, oases and countries that surround the Taklamakan.

The rivers include Yarkand River, Tarim River, Khotan River and Qiemo River.Among them, the Khotan River can pass through the hinterland of the desert. During the summer rainy season, it can occasionally flow into the Tarim River in the northern desert, and it is in a dry state at other times. Oases of various sizes are formed by the river course. The largest oasis is the grassland area where Khotan is located, but the most unique oasis is Puchanghai. The Puchang Sea is the lowest point of the vast basin. It is a water system formed by the pulses of the Kunlun Mountains in the south. The water flows into the Puchang Sea in the end, forming a large lake with a circumference of 400 miles. It was called "Zi Ze" in the Warring States Period Its water stays stagnant, and does not increase or decrease in winter or summer.”

Puchanghai is also the site of the ancient Loulan Kingdom, which was destroyed in the Han Dynasty and disappeared without leaving any traces. Puchanghai means "a lake with a lot of water". The three of them stood on the east bank of a two-foot-wide river, staring blankly at the unbelievable beauty in front of them, especially after more than ten days of journey in the desert. The lush green grasslands are in front of you. The flocks of sheep are floating in the green ocean like white clouds, the grass waves fluctuate with the wind, and the fragrance comes with the wind.The gurgling river under your feet plays the fairy music of nature, and yurts are scattered in the distance, and the smoke from the cooking rises and dissipates in the afterglow of the setting sun.From time to time, the sound of sheep bleating and cattle croaking can be heard, floating in the vast space on the grassland.The Puchanghai prairie is so beautiful and refined, charming and charming that it will make you intoxicated. The three of them were dumbfounded for a moment. The horses were unsaddled and loaded, and they were having fun in the river. On the left side of the opposite bank, there is a row of Populus euphratica trees, which glow golden in the sunset. Although the thick tree body seems to be dry, cracked and twisted, the branches and leaves grow and extend irregularly from unexpected places, showing strength from the dead Its vitality, not succumbing to the harsh environment of the desert, makes people feel the strange life of Populus euphratica that has gone through vicissitudes. Looking at the Populus euphratica on the opposite bank, Wan Renyu admired: "The local people have a saying about the Populus euphratica that it can live for a thousand years without dying, die for a thousand years without falling, and fall for a thousand years without decaying." , perhaps a little exaggerated, but it should not be too far from the truth." Feng Guoting said: "In this fairyland-like place on earth, you will never get tired of living in this place for a lifetime." Wan Renyu said: "It's no wonder the young commander and the others chose to travel far away in the end. It turns out that the beautiful scenery is endless." Long Ying said: "We were discovered by the herdsmen." The two followed his gaze, and several riders were running towards them from a distance. The five riders came whistling, and reached the river bank in a moment, reined in their horses and stopped, and looked at them across the river.The other party was dressed like a herdsman, with a saber on his waist. The oldest one was only thirty, and the youngest was twelve or thirteen years old at most. He was still childish, but he was more airy than other adults. The oldest herdsman suddenly raised two palms, palms towards them, and shouted something in a local language they didn't understand. Wan Renyu said to the two in a low voice: "He is wishing us safety, it is the opening remarks when strangers meet." Then he also raised his hands, repeating what the other party said. Then the other party lowered his left hand, pressed his right hand to his chest and said another sentence. Wan Renyu pointed to Dongfang, and responded with another sentence. The five people, from the oldest to the youngest, showed contemptuous expressions and laughed mockingly at the same time. Feng Guoting said: "What did you say?" Wan Renyu asked with a puzzled face: "He asked me where I came from, and I told him I came from the Tang Dynasty. I don't know what's so funny?" The older herdsman yelled a series of words across the river. Wan Renyu sighed: "I don't understand these few sentences. Last time I came here, there was a guide to lead the way." Long Ying hurriedly said in Turkic: "Do any of you understand Turkic?" What they didn't expect was that the five of them suddenly withdrew their smiles and looked hostile. The youngest boy even pressed his hand to the handle of the knife. The elder responded in blunt Turkic dialect: "Are you friends of the Turkic people?" All three of them could understand this sentence. Long Ying said knowingly: "Not only are we not their friends, we are also their enemies." The expressions of the five herdsmen softened slightly, and the elder asked, "Then whose friends are you?" Longying thought to himself that the nomads outside the Great Wall have their own rules and way of life.The elder herdsman should be the most prestigious person among the five, so he is the only one to speak, and the others will not interrupt.When meeting strangers, there is a set of ways to greet each other, and the content of the speech also follows a certain fixed pattern, which is used to distinguish between friends and enemies, and to gain opportunities to judge each other by asking questions. Long Ying knew better that a mistake in speaking was most likely a situation of drawing a knife.He hurriedly said: "We are your friends." Seeing that the other party did not show the slightest smile, he quickly added: "We are also friends of the Tubo people." The place here is close to Tubo, and if we are closer to these nomadic peoples, we should have some relationship with the Tubo people, so we put out the Tubo signboard and try our luck. Feng Guoting also said in Tubo language: "We brought silk for you." The old herdsman still looked solemn, and suddenly changed his Tubo dialect, which is much more fluent than Turkic: "Who is your Tubo friend?" Long Ying bit the bullet and said in Tubo language: "It's Tubo's Hengkong Muye." The five people all showed surprise, but their hostility was greatly reduced, which made the three of them know that they had hit the right spot. The elder pressed his chest with his right hand again, and said: "My name is Bada." Then he said the names of the other four people one by one. Be proud of your name. The three of Longying also introduced themselves in their own way. After reporting each other's names, the atmosphere improved a lot. Bada said: "Can you testify against the sky that you have not lied?" Looking up at a white cloud floating in the sky, Longying pointed to the sky and said, "I am not only Hengkong Muye's friend, but also his brother. If I tell a lie, the heavens will punish me." The five people were moved at the same time. When Bada called out, the five men urged them to ride down the river and waded over.The three backed away to make room for them to disembark. While crossing the river, they looked at Xue'er and others, and whispered to each other. Bada landed first, quickly jumped off his horse, and walked towards Longying. When Longying didn't know what he wanted to do, he hugged Longying and said: "Hengkong Muye's friend is also a friend of our Hulun tribe." Then he hugged Wanrenyu and Fengguoting.The other four people also came to give them a hug ceremony. It was not a false story, but full of enthusiasm and the atmosphere became more harmonious. They sat around the river bank and waited for Wan Renyu to bring one of the silks to them. As Wan Renyu expected, Bada and the others showed joy and passed the silk to see, unable to bear to put it down. Wan Renyu took the opportunity to ask in Tubo language: "Just now we said that we came from the Tang Dynasty, why are you laughing?" The sun has sunk into the horizon, and it is still shining fan-shaped splendor in the west, and the prairie is another charming state. Bada said bluntly: "Now it is a place ruled by women, how can men be ruled by women?" The three were at a loss for words. Longying turned away and said, "Why do you believe me so easily when I say I'm Hengkong Muye's friend?" The other four people outside Bada should be able to understand Tubo, but they didn't dare to rush to speak, showing attention. Bada said: "Because we know that Prince Muye has indeed become friends with the Han people. As for who told us, I'm sorry I can't say it for the time being. More importantly, my friend, you swore to the sky just now, with a sincere and frank expression, and your eyes didn't move. " The three of Longying exchanged glances.They all feel that there is something in Bada's words, and there is another inside story.Of course I dare not ask. Feng Guoting said: "We want to go to Tubo, Bada, do you know how to get there?" Bada said: "I still can't tell you, tonight we will go to our tent to rest. Tomorrow morning we will ride a horse for a day to visit a man who has eight tents. His tent is beside the sea of ​​gods. Respectfully call him 'An Tian', which means a person with great wisdom, everything is decided by An Tian." Feng Guoting asked with great interest: "How much is the tent? What does it represent?" Bada smiled and said, "Eight tents mean you have eight wives. I also have three tents." He lowered his voice and said, "Staying in three tents in turn will save a lot of unnecessary trouble. Ha!" Everyone laughed with him, of course they understood what he meant. The young man named Dan Dake smiled the most ambiguously, he must have not married a wife yet, so he was itchy and envious when he heard it. At this time, the sky was getting dark, and everyone set off to Bada's camp. The silk given to them was carefully placed on his lap by Bada, and spread to the sky.After walking westward for half an hour, we arrived at a small lake of more than ten feet in length and width. There were over a hundred tents, scattered sparsely beside the small lake. There are hundreds of men and women in the whole family.The old and the young came to see them, and they were hospitable and enthusiastic. That night, Bada held a wildfire party to entertain them, and invited them to taste lamb shank and drink goat milk tea.Under the deep and charming starry sky, except for the sound of sheep bleating from time to time in the distance.Just the sound of the campfire burning. The containers of goat milk tea were passed among the people, and they passed the time slowly around the fire.Although the three of them are not quite used to their rhythm.But do as the Romans do, and gradually adapt to and enjoy their way of life. Longying couldn't help but asked Bada: "Don't you like Turkic people?" Bada said: "Turks are not decent people." Wan Renyu asked, "Have they ever invaded you?" Bada shrugged and said, "I don't know, it's just always been like this. Everyone knows that Turkic people are not decent people." Feng Guoting said: "Do you know the situation of our friends, the Tubo people?" Bada shook his head and said: "It depends on whether An Tian will tell you that I can't say it without his permission. Antin is our patriarch." Long Ying said: "Have you ever been to the great desert to the west?" Bada proudly said: "How can someone who has never set foot in Shenmo deserve to be called a man? The west part of our grassland is like a spear spear that penetrates into Shenmo. It goes straight for more than 300 miles and ends at the Qiemo River , is a good place for hunting, if you go west along the river, and then turn south, you can go to Raoqiang and Qiemo, it is the fastest way to get there." Wan Renyu said: "There is a natural hunting ground in the Taklamakan?" Bada said: "Before the Qiemo River reaches our prairie, it first flows into Taitema Lake. The lakeside is covered with trees, inhabited by various animals and birds. If you have time, I can take you hunting." The three of them were amazed, thinking that there are so many good places in the desert.Earth can overcome water, but obviously water can also make soil. The conversation ended here, and the three of them were summoned to a vacated tent to spend the first late night in the big oasis. Before dawn the next day, Bada led the three of them on the road towards the "Sea of ​​Gods" to visit the tribal leaders who owned eight tents. The three of them were a bit puzzled by this, because they had given gifts, and they were called brothers, why didn't they want to tell them what they wanted to know?It seems a bit inconsistent with the open and enthusiastic style of the nomads. Along the way, the grassland is flat and infinite, the forest is vast, the accountant's house can be seen in the grass waves, and the farmland of highland barley, pea and flax can be seen. It can be seen that in this beautiful land, people live a comfortable life of half farming and half pastoral.There are densely populated rivers and rivers in the place where you pass, and you have to wade across the river more than a dozen times in a morning, and twice you have to swim across the river by horses. From time to time, women in brightly colored clothes and headscarves of various colors were washing clothes by the river, and they raised their heads to say hello to them without shyness. In the afternoon, they rested by a small lake and ate the dry food they brought.Looking at the lake, flocks of birds are flying in and around the lake. There are thousands of them, full of life, which makes them dizzying.If you shoot arrows blindly, maybe some birds will shoot them down. Long Ying said: "My God, there are so many different birds." Bada was not surprised and said casually: "Every spring and summer, there are always flocks of birds flying from the southwest, and there are more and more migratory birds in Shenhai, and the number of birds will only decrease in winter. .” The three of them calculated the time in their minds. It was winter when they set off from Chang'an. Now spring has passed and summer is just approaching. Before they knew it, they had been on the road for more than four months. Bada said again: "Now is the season of abundant water. A large amount of water pours in from the south. It is also the time when our grassland is the most beautiful. In winter, the water flow is greatly reduced. Here is another look." Feng Guoting asked, "Is the water in your Shenhai salty or sweet?" Bada said: "It's salty. Except for the inland saltwater lake on the southern plateau, our Shenhai is the largest saltwater inland sea within a radius of 10,000 li. We also produce salt here, which can be exchanged for many things. I will send each of them later. Pack salt for you. Salt is a must for us to go to the desert. When the mounts can't stand the heat and poison, feed them two mouthfuls of salt to save their lives." Wan Renyu wondered, "A horse is willing to eat salt?" Bada showed a more surprised expression than he, and said, "Don't you know that horses like salt?" Feng Guoting said: "Traveling thousands of miles is better than reading thousands of books, and today I finally understand the wisdom of these two sentences." Bada lowered his voice and said: "An Tian is the most prestigious person on the grassland. The gifts you give him must be heavier than the gifts you give me, otherwise people will gossip about me, understand?" Wan Renyu nodded to Longying and Feng Guoting with a wry smile, and the two immediately understood that they had to give the remaining two bolts of silk to Bada's talking about An Tian.The frankness and directness of the nomads is ironic. After chatting for a while, the four of them continued with the last part of the journey. Bada did not exaggerate, until the sun set towards the rolling mountains in the west, and the huge and boundless super lake finally appeared in front of it. Bada happily said, "Do you smell the salty water?" He pointed his horsewhip at the distant mountain range under the sun, and said, "Behind the mountain is a respectable sea of ​​sand." Inspired by him, the three of them thought about how extreme the contrast between the uninhabited Taklamakan Desert behind the mountains and the fertile grassland here is as beautiful as a fairyland on earth.The stretch of mountains has become the boundary between death and life. After having tasted the taste of the desert, with Longying's curiosity and boldness, he didn't want to have to venture into the "sea of ​​death". Before the sun went into the west mountain, we finally arrived at the lake area.The Shenhai is so big that you can't see the other side, it has no boundaries, it is more like a sea than a lake, no wonder it is called Puchang Sea.The lake is crystal clear, with abundant water and grass. Countless swans, wild geese, wild ducks, and fish gulls play and fly in the water. The sunset and the shimmering blue waves are mixed together. Coupled with the cattle, sheep and horses grazing by the lake, they form an appealing and moving scenery. The mountains to the west are majestic and majestic. Bada excitedly said: "We're here!" He sped up his horse and led the three of them towards a group of tents on the high ground by the lake bank. Compared with the number of camps here, the camps in Bada are vastly different.But although there are thousands of tents, they are not crowded, scattered and scattered, dotted with the vast and humid lakeshore area. More than a dozen young herdsmen who were grazing nearby saw them coming, let go of their horses, exchanged a few greetings with Bada, joined them, and drove towards the target camp. When they arrived at the largest group of camps, A long string of cavalry has grown up behind. Along the way, there were women and children coming out of the nearby tents. The atmosphere was lively, peaceful and peaceful, and everyone had a happy face, as if they were ignorant of the dangerous world beyond the prairie. Bada reined in his horse suddenly, and said in a low voice, "Get off your horse, An Tian is here." Everyone dismounted after him, and a tall old man, surrounded by seven or eight young men, greeted them from a camp on a small hill.