Uncle Ban could only stay in Dunhuang for two days, and then he had to return to Gaochang. There was only two days left for Li Zhen to prepare. Li Zhen agreed with his eldest sister that they would go to Central Plains with Uncle Kang's family first, and Li Zhen would go directly to Luoyang to meet after finishing the matter in Gaochang.

In addition to Kang Dazhuang, Li Zhen found Jiu Zhi and Xiaoxi. Xiaoxi's father was unfortunately killed in the battle to defend the city in Dunhuang, making Xiaoxi an orphan.

Xiaoxi is currently living in Jiuzhi's house. He has gradually emerged from the grief of losing his father. When he heard that Li Zhen was going to Gaochang, he agreed to go with him without hesitation.

However, Jiuzhi was a little troublesome. Jiuzhi's father Jiuzhi's butcher recently expanded his business and bought two more stores. He hoped that his son could stay and help him, but refused to agree to Jiuzhi's trip to Gaochang.

Helplessly, Li Zhen and others had to say goodbye to Jiuzhi and set off for Gaochang with Uncle Ban's caravan.

"A Zhen, the fat man in Jiuzhi is different this time, and he has less fun!" Although Kang Dazhuang would argue with Jiuzhi every time, he would feel a little disappointed if he didn't go there this time.

"That's right! Fat Brother was almost crying last night, and his father was too..." Xiaoxi sighed, and he remembered his father. If his father was still there, would he be allowed to go to Gaochang?

Although Li Zhen was a little regretful, he could understand the difficulties of Uncle Jiu, so he said to the two: "Uncle Jiu has always supported Jiu Zhi going out for travel. If it were not forcing him, he would not have agreed."

"Yeah!" Xiaoxi nodded, "I hope Uncle Jiu will change his mind again and agree to Fat Brother to go with us."

As he said that, Xiaoxi turned around and looked at Dunhuang City. After only a moment of looking, he pointed to the distance and shouted, "Look, is that Fat Brother?"

Li Zhen and Kang Dazhuang looked back and saw a white horse chasing here on the official road in the distance, and a round guy on the horse's back was waving desperately.

Li Zhen was overjoyed. Isn’t that person just a drink?

He immediately urged the horse to meet him. After a moment, Jiuzhi and Jiuzhi chased him up. He waved his hand excitedly and shouted, "I finally caught up with you."

"Old fat, your father changed his mind?" Li Zhen asked excitedly by holding the reins of the white horse.

"Not!"

Jiu Zhi panted and said, "My father hired two cheap guys, so he was kind-hearted and allowed me to go to Gaochang with you. You walked too fast and made me tired... Let me take a breath and talk."

Li Zhen patted his shoulder and smiled and said, "No need to say anything more. As long as you come, that is the happiest thing. Let's keep up with the team."

The two urged the horse to speed up and chased the caravan that was gradually moving away.

...........

In terms of administrative divisions, Gaochang City is not far away. Xizhou where it is located is close to Shazhou. They are adjacent to each other, but the actual journey is not close, and it takes more than 20 days to take a journey.

This is mainly because Shazhou is vast, Dunhuang is located in the eastern part of Shazhou, while the western part of Shazhou is surrounded by a vast desert and Gobi, which runs across more than 2,000 miles from east to west.

But the Silk Road will not really enter the desert, but will turn northwest along the edge of the desert and head to Gaochang City, located on the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains.

Because the journey is long, Puchanghai, which is passed by half, is a place for business travelers to camp and rest. The caravans that come and go usually rest here for two or three days before continuing to set off.

Puchanghai was the Lop Nur in later generations. The Puchanghai in the Tang Dynasty had the Chi River and the Qiemo River injected into more than a dozen rivers of all sizes. The lake surface was vast and the water and grass was abundant. Several nomadic peoples lived on both sides of the lake, including Tuyuhun people, Shatu people and indigenous Puchang people.

"Uncle Ban, we don't see many caravans along the way!" As he approached Pu Changhai, Li Zhen asked at the deserted Gobi.

"A war broke out in Dunhuang, and most of the caravans changed to the northern line, so the road became very deserted. If it were a few months ago, I would encounter caravans from time to time on the road, unlike now."

"Will the business road be restored? I mean, will Dunhuang get rid of the influence of this war?"

"It's hard to say. If only this war is the only one, I believe it will recover soon, but who knows whether the Turks will come to attack Dunhuang again? Our long-distance caravans will lose their money as long as they encounter a war disaster. No one dares to take risks!"

Li Zhen nodded. He understood why Uncle Kang's family moved away. He lived in Dunhuang for ten years. If it weren't for the great risk, who would have been willing to leave?

At this time, someone shouted in the distance: "Pu Changhai is here in front!"

Li Zhen originally thought the caravan would become excited and accelerate forward, but the caravan had almost no reaction, as if they were just passing by here.

Uncle Ban saw Li Zhen’s confusion and explained to him with a smile: “Although Pu Changhai is very large, there are not many places suitable for camping. Not only do we need to get supplies, but we also need to avoid the looting of horse bandits. Therefore, we usually go to the north, where there are Tang troops stationed there, and nomadic peoples provide food and fresh water. We will have to walk for two days to camp.”

Only then did Li Zhen remember that Puchanghai is a saltwater lake and he could not fall into the lake water and drink it.

The team walked for another two days. With the continuous emergence of nomadic tents, the caravan finally arrived at the campsite. This was the base of the Shatuo people. Thousands of tents were distributed by the lake with abundant grass, and sheep could be seen everywhere.

In the distance, you can vaguely see the outline of a city, which is Puchang Military City, with 300 troops stationed.

The caravan has been leaving for almost half a month, and everyone is exhausted. They have to rest for two days here before they go to Gaochang City.

A large camping tent stood up, and the camels were unloaded one after another. Many Shatu people also rushed over after hearing the news. They exchanged daily necessities with the caravans with fresh beef, mutton and milk wine, and the camping site became very lively.

The camp of Li Zhen and the other four covered more than half acres. Kang Dazhuang rented it to a Shatu herder for a price of 100 yuan a day. They had no goods and the big tent seemed empty. The four simply led their horses in and tied them to the other side of the big tent.

"I regret it a little now!"

Jiu Zhi lay on the thick sheepskin and raised his legs and said, "If I had known that I should have brought some goods to Gaochang to sell, at least I could make some money, so I would not go empty-handed and return empty-handed."

Kang Dazhuang sneered and said sarcastically: "Do you know what goods to bring? Do you think you can make money by selling goods to Gaochang? Let me tell you that at least half of the goods will lose money. I have been to Gaochang three times, and I lost at least twice, and I only made money for the third time."

"If this is the case, why did Uncle Ban and the others still transport so much goods? Aren't they afraid of losing money?"

"Who told you that Uncle Ban's goods would be sold in Gaochang? You don't understand at all. Uncle Ban is not a merchant, but is only responsible for transporting goods. There is a connection between merchants. If you know what goods are different in different places, you can ask Uncle Ban's freight caravan to deliver the goods to Gaochang, or further away. Uncle Ban and the others only charge the freight fee. As for what goods are transported by the caravan, Uncle Ban himself doesn't know. This is a business secret."

This time, Jiuzhi also brought 100 Roman gold coins, so he wanted to buy something in Gaochang and return to Dunhuang to sell. Although he and Kang Dazhuang were quarreling all the way, at this time, for the sake of making money, he decided to repair his diplomatic relations with Dazhuang.

He sat up and smiled with a saliva, "I said to Lao Kang, you have experience. Can you tell me what Gaochang can make money? I want to buy some to bring back to Dunhuang."

"Gaochang! It's the most famous wine, and the white cloth is also the one that ships to Chang'an and will have three times the profit, but when shipped to Dunhuang, I estimate that the profit will be only 40% at most, and the shipping fee is not enough."

As he was talking, there was a commotion outside the tent, someone was shouting, and horses were neighing. Li Zhen, who was meditating in the tent, opened his eyes. He was surprised and immediately grabbed the long sword and walked out of the tent. The other three people followed him one after another.

It was still afternoon, and the sky was clear and the hot sun was hanging in the air, roasting the earth like a stove.

At this time, the merchants were sleeping in the big tent, and the camping site should be deserted, but at this time, the space was full of people, and more than a dozen black horse riders emerged from somewhere. They were very fierce and questioning Uncle Ban.

Jiuzhi's eyes were very poisonous. He recognized one of them and whispered to Li Zhen: "Did you see the person wearing the red cloak?"

Li Zhen also felt that the person wearing the red cloak looked familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen it.

"Do you know that person?"

"I've seen him. Last time you competed with a mosquito, that man has been standing next to the fly. The big scar on his face is his logo."

Li Zhen suddenly remembered that it seemed to be this person. He also saw it at that time. He thought that this person was Suo Wen's master. Later, he found out that he was a relative of the Suo family. However, he had already left Dunhuang before the Turkic siege, and he did not expect to meet him again here.

"Who are they? What are they doing here? They are so fierce." Li Zhen thought to himself.

At this time, the sword-faced man riding on the horse was just looking at this side, facing Li Zhen's eyes. He was stunned for a moment, obviously he recognized Li Zhen.

However, he did not mean to say hello, and continued to interrogate a few more times. Seeing that there was nothing to gain, he waved his hand and said, "Go!"

He led a dozen men in black to run south, but only ran for dozens of steps. The sword-faced man turned back and looked at Li Zhen deeply, and rode his horse gradually faded away.

Li Zhen looked at the group of people leaving, and he had a premonition in his heart that these people would come back, and I don’t know what they were looking for?

Kang Dazhuang next to him said, "I'll go and ask what happened!"

He squeezed into the crowd and walked quickly towards Uncle Ban. Soon, Kang Dazhuang returned to the tent and said to Li Zhen: "Uncle Ban said that the group of people just now came to find a monk from Tochar, and he suspected that he was hidden by us."

‘Turchar monk!’ Li Zhen was puzzled. What did these people do to the Tochar monks?

.........
Chapter completed!