Chapter 8: Border Town (1)

The setting sun is like blood, and the north wind is like a knife. This is the northwest desert in late winter. It is sharp, sad, deep, and mysterious. There is no vocabulary to truly describe the feeling it brings to people, just as people can never describe the despair and fear of facing death.

It is the season of early spring, but there is no spring in the desert. In the desert northwest of the Great Zhou Dynasty, time seems to have been frozen. The endless sea of ​​sand is still covered with thick snow, and the yellow sand and white snow are contrasting, making the desert scene more desolate and harsh. The desert in winter is always covered with thick dark clouds. The wind suddenly swept away the dark clouds occasionally, and the cold sunlight casts on the rolling and circling wind and sand, bringing more murderous atmosphere. Between the endless dunes and deserts, there are lodging grass, as well as the withered branches of poplar trees and red willows, as if they have been dead for thousands of years, leaving only the incomplete body cast by the wind and sand sculptures, standing in vain in the endless wilderness, waiting for the next more violent north wind and blizzard to completely bury them.

This is a cold world, a deserted world, and a lifeless world.

In another two or three months, the temperature in the desert will rise rapidly, and the snow will melt overnight. Before there is even a time to moisturize the surrounding land with its clear sweet liquid, the hot summer will come. Dry, hot and hot sand and yellow sand burned by the sun will become hot and hot, and even the flow of air will quickly take away the moisture. At that time, the desert will bring people another kind of despair.

But in this world, there are always some courageous and fearless people who will put life and death outside of their quest for their goals. Therefore, even in this harsh desert that is almost insurmountable, they are slowly struggling and persistently walking one road after another by the people coming and going. These trade routes run through the east and west, connecting the Great Zhou with the Persia, Samarkand, Syria, the Arabian Peninsula in Central Asia, and even the Byzantine Empire far away in Europe. On these trade routes, wealth from the East and the West flows, all kinds of strange goods and supplies, carriages, camels, horses, or donkeys, no matter how many difficulties and obstacles there are, no matter how huge risks and sacrifices there are, the road marked by humans and animals will continue to move forward, leading to hope and dreams.

At this moment, on this desert, a caravan composed of hundreds of camels is moving forward with difficulty. They are just one of the countless caravans that marches on the Silk Road every year, but it is rare for those who choose to cross the desert at such an end of winter. The setting sun is setting, and the temperature on the desert is falling rapidly. The cold winter night in the desert is coming soon.

At the front of the caravan is a white Bactrician camel, with colorful felts covered with camels. After many days of trekking, they have been stained with sand and dust. Because of the frost, the camel's long eyelashes become snow-white, reflecting the afterglow of the setting sun, and the dark brown eyes under the white eyelashes are shining with fatigue and gentle light. A man with a frost-faced face is riding on the hunchback, and his strong body has been slimly drawn after several months of trekking. He is the leader of the Persian caravan, Alatimur.

Facing the golden light of the setting sun, Alatimur narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath. The endless sand dunes in front of him slowly turned into the golden field full of tulips in his eyes. How long has it been since he left his hometown? It has been almost half a year, right? I really didn't expect that the road to Dazhou east was so long, but fortunately it was almost here. Isn't it? Looking forward to the right, on the top of the high Tianshan Mountains, the snow that never melted all year round floated among the sea of ​​clouds, just like the residence of the gods in the heavenly court. Just below its foot, on the Longyou Road, Tingzhou, Shazhou, and Yizhou under the jurisdiction of Dazhou, these busy northwest towns opened the gates of the Central Plains to merchants from the West, leading them into the imaginative China in Yumen Pass.

In order to set foot on this dream land, Alatimur and his companions have been walking for more than five months, and the journey is much more tortuous and difficult than they imagined. Generally speaking, starting from Persia, along the edge of the Pamir Plateau and entering the jurisdiction of the Anxi Protectorate on the northwest border of the Great Zhou, you can choose two paths on the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains and the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains to continue to go to Yumen. Only by passing Yumen Pass are truly entering the hinterland of the Great Zhou. Alatimur's caravan is on the northern line, which can avoid the mysterious Kunlun Mountains and the boundless Tulun River in the sand sea, as well as the terrible death Gobi, which is relatively less risky.

Of course, there are enough hardships and hardships, both the southern and northern lines. The biggest danger on the northern lines does not come from nature, but from manpower. Due to the lack of effective control of the tribes of the Western Turks, the northern lines have always been bandits and frequent robberies. In this regard, Alatimur was confident and relatively fully prepared. His caravans were all the most powerful Persian men, all of whom were extraordinary and good at playing swords and guns, and they were still very sure to deal with ordinary bandits and robbers.

The journey was quite smooth, and I encountered many big and small twists and turns, but it did not cause serious losses to the caravan. In the past few days, Alatimul frequently checked the map and could conclude that as long as I walked in the desert area, Tingzhou was not far ahead. For business travelers who were traveling far, as long as they arrived in Tingzhou, there would be oasis everywhere, grasslands were like blue lakes, and towns were everywhere.

Alatimul turned back to patrol his caravan, the tall Bactrician camels, who had already lost their stomachs after a long journey, but their pace was still strong and they were not sick. It seemed that they could complete the rest of the journey smoothly. Although his companions were exhausted, their longing for victory had added brilliance to their dark and vicissitudes in the past few days, and songs would even float from their hoarse throats. It is said that there are many Persian dancers from Tingzhou who can dance the most authentic Persian dances. Everyone should be happy at that time!

Thinking of this, Alatimur's eyes couldn't help but feel a sensation. He quickly calmed down and shouted loudly: "It's late, let's camp here today." A sigh and laughter came from the caravan. People began to set up tents, and camels were driven together, and several hunting dogs that followed were doing their duty in the outer circle. The night before yesterday, the caravan camped next to a small oasis, so the sheepskin water bags and buckets she carried were still full.

When the bonfire is rising, the first thing to cook is the samovar. The tea fragrance quickly fades in the cold night sky, and the heat of pancakes and barbecue disperses. Everyone hurriedly poured soju around the bonfire. They had to finish their supper before the sun sets. When it gets dark, the temperature in the desert will immediately drop below freezing point. At this time, only by hiding in a tent surrounded by thick cotton felt can we keep warm. If we stay outside, we can freeze people to death without two or three hours.
Chapter completed!