Li Zaixing sat on the camel, his body slowly shaking as the camel progressed, looking for the most labor-saving rhythm. Transferring to camels was Li Siye's suggestion, because camels can carry weights and endure hard work, and are more suitable for long-distance travel than war horses.

The camel that Li Zaixing rode was a huge white camel, which was a gift from Li Siye as the eldest brother to his junior brother. According to him, this was the spoils he had taken to the Battle of Rehai with his husband Mengling. It was originally a Tukha Shimohe Dagan Khan, and it was a rare magical object. Although it usually walks slowly, once it gallops, it is no less than an ordinary horse, comparable to Teller.

Li Zaixing agreed happily because his main opponent may be the big cannibals, and in addition to Arab horses, camels are also one of their most important means of transportation. If you want to compete with the big cannibals, using a large amount of camels is a good choice.

Du Fu and others also changed to camels. Although camels are good, they have a strong smell. Du Fu is not used to them. He covers his nose with a handkerchief and shakes his head to conceive poems to distract himself. He has been wandering with Cen Shen for several days and has some inspiration to write frontier poems and is preparing to write poems. Unlike Li Bai's poems for wine, his writing poems is like being pregnant, which takes a long time to brew. Although camels are slow, they sit comfortably and shake on the camel's back, which is very suitable for stomping.

Looking at Du Fu's half-sleeping look, Li Zaixing couldn't help but laugh when he thought about Li Siye's evaluation of Cen Shen.

In Li Siye's opinion, Cen Shen is a scholar with a low attitude and a low-key scholar. He can only talk big, but in fact he doesn't understand anything. It's fine if he doesn't understand, but he always thinks he is a Jinshi and is superior. From Li Siye's grievances, Li Zaixing heard some implicit meanings. Cen Shen came to Anxi to gilt, and had no intention of taking root in Anxi. He came to Gao Xianzhi's shogunate in hopes of using Gao Xianzhi's reputation to get Gao Xianzhi's recommendation and take shortcuts in official career.

The emperor values ​​border merit and attaches great importance to the opinions of border valuing generals. If a general like Gao Xianzhi recommends someone, the emperor will usually not refuse. The relevant interpretation departments will give priority to the arrangements to show respect for border generals. Therefore, even if these scholars look down on warriors and do not like the life of border valuing, they will come to border valuing for a few years. After getting the recommendation of border generals, they will fly away and return to the prosperous Central Plains.

Who can like such people? Gao Xianzhi doesn’t like such people either. The reason why he treats Cen Shen with courtesy is impossible. Literary people control the remarks, Cen Shen is a family of high families, and Gao Xianzhi, a Gaoli slave, dare not offend such people.

However, Cen Shen was not grateful to Gao Xianzhi's courtesy. On the contrary, he had complaints. In Li Siye's view, Cen Shen's greed was a great slander. Li Siye did not deny that Gao Xianzhi wanted to attack Shiguo and seize wealth, but his starting point was different.

"Why did the soldiers under the Central Chief come to the border thousands of miles, and why did they sacrifice their lives and work hard? Of course, they were rewarded for making merits. How much money could the court reward? It was just a meal of wine. The Central Chief wanted to motivate the soldiers to fight, not only distributed all the spoils to his subordinates, but also collected more money to reward the soldiers and inspire morale. Attack the Shi Kingdom, seize their wealth, weaken their strength, encourage morale, kill two birds with one stone, and benefit the country and the people. How can the Chief Chief be said to be greedy?"

Li Siye waved his arms at the time and was filled with righteous indignation. "If Zhongcheng is a greedy person, how could he respond to his request? Did Cen Shen tell you how much settlement fee he had collected when he first arrived in Kucha? Did this money fall from the sky?"

Li Zaixing cannot say that Li Siye is unreasonable, but he also feels the problem of the recruitment system. The recruitment of soldiers is not the government soldiers, but the war is just a profession. They fight bravely to get more money. It is of course good to have motivation, but once they encounter strong opponents, the war is in a stalemate and have no hope of seeking money, they may die, and it is difficult for them to stick to their positions as stubbornly as the government soldiers, and they are likely to collapse.

On the other hand, when the imperial court lacks rewards and border generals can only find a way themselves, these soldiers will naturally be loyal to the generals, rather than the imperial court. They will gradually become the general's private soldiers and form a centrifugal force against the imperial court.

This is not a good sign. The separatist rule of the feudal states in the late Tang Dynasty may have originated here.

It can be seen that the crisis in the Tang Dynasty did not have to wait until the Anshi Rebellion occurred. Compared with this hidden danger, the relatives of civil and military officials are far less urgent. At least there has not been too big a crisis yet. With the support of the emperor, the military forces are still very strong.

Li Zaixing thought of many problems, but he had no solution for the moment. On the contrary, he felt more and more complicated, which was much more troublesome than assassinating Li Linfu. Every time he could think of Li Linfu's confidence and pride, and felt an inexplicable uneasiness in his heart.

When his mind hurts, Li Zaixing put aside these problems and turned his eyes to the distant horizon. The road they were walking was the north of the Silk Road, the south was the continuous desert, and the north was the towering Tianshan Mountains. There were two completely different scenery. They walked between the snow-capped mountains and the desert, as if they were walking on the edge of heaven and hell.

...

Shule is the last green state east of the Pamir Mountains. From Shule to the west, it is the Pamir Mountains that separate inside and outside. To the south, you can enter Tubo through Xiaobolu, or turn southwest to Tochar, and to India. This road is mostly high and deep valleys, difficult and dangerous, and rarely visited, but it is also a must for Tubo to enter and exit the river. After the Tang Dynasty captured Xiaobolu, it stuck the throat of Tubo going westward. It can be imagined that the Tubo people will definitely not give up, and a great war is inevitable. Gao Xianzhi asked Li Siye, a fierce general, to guard Shule, with good intentions.

Shule goes west, goes up the Chi River, and crosses the Pamir Mountains to reach the Chengse City. Chengse City is the original Xiuxun Prefecture and one of the governors of Zhaowu Jiuhu Bahanna. If Xiaobolu is the gateway for Tubo to come out of Tibet, then Chengse City is the gateway for Tubo to enter Central Asia. The geographical location is important, and it goes without saying.

Tubo, Tang and Dashi all understood this. In the third year of Kaiyuan, Tubo and Dashi jointly advanced to Bakhanna, established Aliada as king, and drove away the original Bakhanna king. Bakhanna ran to Anxi for help. Zhang Xiaosong, who was the censor of Anxi at the time, led the Anxi army to attack for thousands of miles, defeated Aliada Yulian City, slaughtered three cities, and won more than a thousand levels.

This is the famous Battle of Bahanna, which was the first official contact between the Tang Dynasty and the Dashi and Tubo, and ended with the great victory of the Tang Dynasty.

Since then, Bahanna, who was not very close to the Tang Dynasty, has become a die-hard supporter of the Tang Dynasty and sent troops to assist the battle many times. Gai Jia fought against the cavalry, Gao Xianzhi defeated Xiao Bolu, and all Bahanna soldiers followed the battle. In the third year of Tianbao, the emperor gave Bahanna king Ashi Landa Gan Dou surname, changed Bahanna to Ningyuan, and then married Princess Heyi of the royal family, and married Princess Ningyuan. The Dou surname was a surname in the foreign family. This time the marriage was also the only time between the Tang Dynasty and the Huhus in Central Asia. This shows the importance of the Tang Dynasty to Bahanna.

From Shule to Huisai City, it was originally an important road from Anxi to Hezhong area. After entering the Tang Dynasty, it was changed to the North Road, so this road was not very accessible. Li Siye was stationed in Shule. After learning about this situation, he sent people to do some investigations, so he suggested that Li Zaixing take the old road from the Sui Dynasty and go straight to Huisai City. On the one hand, it can save a lot of distance, and on the other hand, it can also take the opportunity to walk this road in person, which will be of great benefit to commanding troops in the future.

Li Zaixing didn't understand this situation at first, so he was particularly interested and happily adopted Li Siye's suggestion.

The only question is whether Du Fu can accompany him. Li Zaixing and others are strong warriors, and even Elmadie is agile warrior. Only Du Fu is a scholar, and Li Zaixing is not sure whether he can withstand the suffering of trekking. This is different from the previous road. It is about walking through the mountains and ridges, which is beyond imagination.

"Brother Du, you have considered it." Li Zaixing said sincerely to Du Fu: "This road must be very hard, I suggest you stay in Shule."

Du Fu was also a little hesitant, but in the end he decided to move forward. First, he felt that he had already come here and gave up halfway, and the previous suffering was in vain. He might not have the chance to come to Anxi in the future, nor would he have the chance to go west of the Pamir Mountains. If he didn't go and take a look this time, it might be a lifelong regret. Second, he felt that Li Siye had no good feelings for literati and might not be able to get along well with him. Instead of enduring here, it would be better to move forward with Li Zaixing.

Li Zaixing agreed. After making full preparations, they embarked on the road to travel west.

...

Geluoling.

Du Fu dragged two legs like lead-filled, landed on the ground with both hands, climbed onto a huge rock almost like a climb. He turned over with difficulty, lay on the huge rock on his back, panting, and not caring about his image at all.

The altitude here is about 6,000 meters, and the air is thin. Even Li Zaixing feels a little dizzy, let alone Du Fu. To be honest, when Du Fu came here, he had not asked anyone to carry him, and Li Zaixing was already very surprised.

Li Zaixing walked to him and sat down, crossed his waist, and gasped.

"Brother Du, can it still work?"

"Okay." Du Fu spitted hard: "But... let me... gasp for a while, I really can't walk anymore, my heart beat faster than the war drum..."

"Now you know that mountain marching is not that easy?" Li Zaixing quipped: "After you go back, the poems you write can be called a poem about mountain, which is guaranteed to be more courageous than climbing Mount Tai."

Du Fu smiled bitterly and said, "Don't joke about me. I know that the name of the King of Mountains is hard to come by. Alas, when I sat in the study, I always felt that there was no difficulty that I could not overcome. Now after experiencing it myself, I realized that it was not easy. Anxi's soldiers..." He raised his shaking arms and raised his thumbs up: "He is a real hero."

Li Zaixing was about to praise him, when a crisp bird song came from his ears. He looked tight and looked up to look into the distance.

Elmdey stood on a hillside in the distance and made a gesture to him.

Li Zaixing shouted: "Warning, there is an enemy situation!"

.
Chapter completed!