Dunhuang, a famous historical city in later generations. Since ancient times, Dunhuang has been a traffic artery, but Dunhuang in the Eastern Han Dynasty is far less brilliant than later generations, and the famous Thousand Buddha Mountain of Mogao Grottoes has not appeared. Today, this is just an ancient city in the middle of the vast desert.

For the first time in Ma Yue's life, he saw a terrifying sandstorm here, in Dunhuang.

After seeing the rich scenery of the Hexi Corridor of Jiuquan County, when they entered Dunhuang County, they would have a feeling in their hearts that this was a cursed place, and they exchanged their horses for camels and stored them in Jiuquan, and each drove two camels with a large amount of water and naan, as well as dried salted meat, after all, they were not like camels, and their mother did not tell them which stones were rich in minerals.

Wei He connected all the camels end to tail with ropes, and no one dragged the ropes to hurry, and the camels were loaded with water and food, and there was no way to ride. Everyone in the caravan was dressed in a burqa made of double linen and wrapped in a scarf. It's not that they're afraid of the cold, but that a gust of wind in the sky can bring up half-human-high sand and fly, and they have to wrap themselves tightly.

The so-called "the sun is not conspicuous, there are many black clouds, and the moon cannot be seen, and the wind is not sand." ”

This is the curtain, the only way for merchants and travelers on the Silk Road to the Central Plains.

On the second day of stepping into the desert, the sandstorm opened its warm chest to them and gave them a sand embrace.

The yellow sand and clouds that obscured the sky and the sun blocked all the light between heaven and earth, Wei He dragged the camel in front of the team and hurriedly told everyone to dodge, the camel knelt on the spot and formed a circle, and the people prostrate beside the camel and lifted the sackcloth they carried and buckled it on their bodies.

The dust hit the sackcloth and pressed his arm painfully, and Ma Yue almost felt that he was going to die like this.

Wei He was very close to Ma Yue, and seeing Ma Yue's worry, he shouted loudly in Ma Yue's ear: "Don't worry! Just get some sleep! ”

The ears were full of wind and sand, there was sand blown on his body by the wind through the linen, in his clothes, boots, ears, and nose, Ma Yue couldn't hear what Wei He was saying in his ears at all, all he heard was the whirring wind, and he felt that Wei He was telling him not to be afraid, and the wind and sand would pass after a while, so Ma Yue nodded violently at Wei He.

When entering the desert, Wei He said that there is no need to be afraid of the black wind and sandy days, hide beside the camels, cover the sackcloth and wait for a while. Ma Yue kept it in mind at the time, he had never seen a desert in his two lives, but he had seen a sandy and dusty day in Beijing in his previous life.

At the time, he thought it was a sandstorm.

At that time, the sand and dust day was nothing compared to this, and the wind and sand were two meters away from each other, and the whole world was plunged into darkness, not to mention that being in the vast desert seemed to be in an ancient wilderness. The feeling of loneliness is almost insane.

No one can speak, because the speech is not heard clearly. Only the howling wind in my ears and the wind and sand hitting my body are the most clear. There is no time, no space, everything in heaven and earth seems to cease to exist. Everything will be buried and swallowed by the sand.

Ma Yue spent a whole day, perhaps two days, in fear of losing hope, which he did not know. By the time his consciousness returned to his body, the dust had stopped, and the sackcloth on his body weighed fifty or sixty pounds. Ma Yue's strength is not small, and when he lifts the sackcloth, there are small sandbags around him, and the exposed hump lets him know that his partners are still there.

There are also people who are no longer there. Wei Fa's father, the poor old Qiang man who was sent by the white-haired man to the black-haired man, stopped breathing under the sand. Ma Yue wanted to wake him up, but found that the old man was lying outside the circle surrounded by camels with his face covered with sackcloth, and the sand on his head was half a meter high.

The old man, who had lost hope, took his own life and left himself forever on the Silk Road that took his son's life.

The desert after the sandstorm completely changed direction, and they got lost.

The south, east, and west are exactly the same, and even the most directional people will lose their way in the desert after a sandstorm. They went all the way west by feeling.

Wei He is optimistic, he said: "As long as you go in the direction of the sun setting, you can always go out." ”

But the actual situation did not allow him to be so optimistic, and at noon on the sixth day, half of the water bladders in the caravan were empty, and there were enough naan cakes for three meals. When it was discovered, it was too late, and there was no time to react, and the caravan was about to run out of water and food.

On the eighth day, they still didn't go out, and all they saw was Black Mountain, next door, and the desert.

With the sun on their heads, everyone's mouths were dry, and no one was willing to touch the last dozen or so bags of water. No one has eaten the dry food, the dry naan is hard to swallow, and everyone knows that once the water is drunk and does not go out, everyone will die here.

Ma Yue's physical condition is fine, except for being very thirsty, he is the smallest and consumes the least. At this time, the most uncomfortable are Ma Zong and Guan Yu, the two nine-foot tough guys. The two men had been at the front of the line for the first few days, leading the camels, but now they had fallen to the back of the line with Ma Yue. They are good at fighting, but at this time, because their physical fitness is too much higher than ordinary people, the energy consumed on weekdays is much more than ordinary people. When food and water sources can keep up, the body is their advantage, and now this situation has become a disadvantage.

Every day, Ma Yue stared at the camels around him, and he collected six empty water bladders. As soon as he saw the camels with their legs spread and holding the water bladder, he did not think that they would be able to get out of the desert until the water was drunk.

It was not Guan Yu and Ma Zong who fell first, it was Peng Tuo, who always led the camel at the front. After a few days of not eating a drop of water, and no one wanted to eat the naan cake, Rao is iron will honed by Peng to go south and north couldn't withstand it, and with a "bang", he still fell.

A bunch of big men, you look at me, I look at you, I don't know what to do.

Ma Yue looked at Wei He in front of him, frowning and stunned, and a burst of anger came out, and he pulled a water bladder filled with water from the hump of the head camel, unscrewed it, and poured it into Peng's mouth.

Wei He hurriedly stopped Ma Yue and said, "San Lang, wait a minute." ”

Ma Yue stared at his hand but didn't stop: "What, you plan to let Brother Peng die in the curtain?" ”

Wei He was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly said: "How could I watch Peng Tuo die, there is only so much water left now, ask everyone." ”

As soon as Ma Yue turned his head, he saw more than a dozen men swallowing saliva and looking directly at the water bladder in his hand, these people were almost unable to stand it.

Being stared at by so many people, Ma Yue didn't dare to make a move, he knew that these people were going crazy. He was afraid that if his hand shook, these dozen men would rush up.

Fortunately, Guan Yu and Ma Zong stepped forward with knives to protect Ma Yue, and Ma Yue settled down and continued to feed Peng De water. Peng Tuo drank almost half a bag of water before waking up leisurely, but his body was so tired that he couldn't hurry at all. The people lost a cart of goods, put Peng Tuo on the cart and was pulled by a camel, and then continued on their way.

For Peng Tuo, when he woke up and saw the sun spraying fire poison in the sky, Ma Yue's somewhat anxious face made him seem to see a great sage and good teacher.