The short seconds of meeting the tiger were the longest period of Ren Hong's life.

The black and yellow markings of the body can be well hidden in the reeds, the huge tiger head with some water, the vigorous body, the tail like a steel whip, and the sharp claws, a pair of hanging eyes that make people's scalps numb.

It was so close to this big cat that Ren Hong could even smell the stench of this beast, and it must be the same.

The crossbow behind Ren Hong has not yet been wound, and the knife on his waist has not had time to be pulled out, so I am afraid that he will be pounced down by this tiger and bite his throat......

Fortunately, this beast already had an unlucky waterfowl in its mouth, and it glanced at Ren Hong, Lu Jiuyu, and Sun Shiwan, who were like a great enemy, and after judging the difficulty of hunting again, it flicked its tail and walked into the deep reeds, and disappeared.

After the tiger left, Ren Hong's first reaction was to slowly retreat, and then strode out of the reeds, all covered in cold sweat.

Recalling the Fangcai tiger, the size is about the same as the Indian tiger, and the length of the body hair is between the short-haired South China tiger and the long-haired Siberian tiger, which should be the legendary Xinjiang tiger......

This subspecies became extinct in the 20th century, but in BC they still occupy the top of the food chain in much of the Western Regions.

Ren Hong had just come out of the no-man's land, and he forgot about this stubble, otherwise he wouldn't have rushed into the reeds, so he couldn't help but scold Lu Jiuyu:

"Haven't you met it before? Why not be reminded. ”

Lu Jiuyu was also frightened enough: "Last time, I only bought two tiger skins in the village of the Loulan people, but I didn't see them, I heard the Loulan people say that there are more in the forest, but who knew that they came to the lake......"

While speaking, the grass moved again, and the three of them hurriedly drew their swords, and the crossbows were ended, as if they were facing a great enemy.

But in the end, it was a little wild boar who, like them, was also scared out by a tiger......

On the first day of their arrival in Lop Nur, the envoys ate roasted wild suckling pigs.

……

After eating enough meat, continue on the road, Lop Nur in early spring is very lively, in stark contrast to the dead silence of the white dragon pile.

In the next two days of traveling north along the east bank of Lop Nur, Ren Hong can be regarded as seeing the abundance of species here: reeds and willows are born on the lakeside, and in addition to tigers and wild pigs, deer, rabbits, otters, foxes, wolves, hares and so on.

And the most are migratory birds......

Although there is still some thin ice in the middle of Lop Nur, the anxious migratory birds have already arrived.

The grey geese are lined up in a long line, flying up and down the sky above. The egret flapped its wings slowly and swaggered through the shallow water, its white feathers striking with its striking white feathers. You can even hear the popping of the wings of several black swans on the nearby water.

There are also many on the shore: a small flock of larks on the salt flats of the lake, jumping around, woodpeckers pecking at the red willows, the distinctive chirping of variegated chickadees in the reeds, turtle doves and sparrows nesting and playing. Sometimes, they accidentally step into the grass and frighten brightly colored pheasants to scream and soar into the air.

Ruddy ducks are even more numerous, in the thousands, covering a large area of the lake.

These birds come from the Indian subcontinent and fly north through Khotan through the gap between the Himalayas and the Karakoram. When the birds enter the Tarim Basin and see the endless desert in the north and the snow-capped mountains in the south, it is inevitable to stop at the only green area, Lop Nur.

For the envoys who have suffered so much, this is simply a gift from nature.

Zhao Han'er's bow and Xi Chongguo's crossbow never stopped all the way, and almost every time they were targeted, it meant that there was one more game for the envoys' dinner.

In addition to performing his duties and concocting food for the envoys, Ren Hong also took the opportunity to practice his ability to shoot live targets, and vowed not to give up until he won the title of "Waterfowl Killer".

On this day, when he stood by the lake and looked at a black swan in the distance, a long and narrow wooden boat appeared in his field of vision, and the sound of the paddles lapping on the surface of the lake frightened Ren Hong's prey.

Seeing people again after half a month, Ren Hong put down the crossbow slightly, but remained vigilant.

But I saw that the poplar boat was heading straight towards the shore, and I could see the live fish still jumping in the cabin, as well as the fishing nets made of Luo Buma, the man on the boat was of medium height, with white skin and millet hair, a high nose bridge and deep eye sockets, and brown eyes, looking at Ren Hong with surprise.

He threw the oar, stroked his chin with his hand, made a motion like brushing his chin and beard, then put his hand on his chest, bent over, and nodded to Ren Hong.

Ren Hong knew that this was the way the people of Loulan greeted each other.

……

The first Loulan people the envoys met were fishermen from nearby villages, whose name was pronounced "You Huan".

You is still in his twenties, can speak a few jerky and lame Chinese, and Lu Jiuyu actually knows each other, it turns out that the last time the envoy group went in and out of Lop Nur, he had rested in You Huan's village.

Following You Huan's guidance, the mission traveled west along the north side of Lop Nur, and saw wisps of green smoke rising from a distance over a reed land in the middle of a lake, which was where the small village was located.

But without anyone to lead it, even a glimpse of the smoke of the cooking, the intricate reeds and the lakeside swamps would be enough to make the intruder dizzy.

When I got closer, I found that the village was not large, there were about twenty or thirty households, and the roofs and walls were all made of reeds and mud, which could be imagined to be very simple and low.

Ren Hong expected that if he encountered such a strong wind in the desert, he was afraid that the whole house would be blown away.

Under You Huan's shouting, the village had learned of the arrival of the envoys, and everyone came out to greet them.

Ren Hong was also able to take a good look at the Loulan people who were speculated by later generations.

The Loulan people are a typical Turan race, equivalent to the mixed blood of the white race and the yellow race, after all, the Western Regions is the crossroads of a race, and the Cypriots, Tocharians, Xiongnu, Qiang, and Han are all integrated here.

They are of medium to short stature, with pale skin, a low forehead, a high nose bridge, deep eye sockets, flat eyebrows, large eyes, and generally black pupils, but also brown.

Men like to shave their heads and wear felt hats, with only long beards, and their physique is not burly, but their arms are quite strong, which may be related to frequent rowing and fishing.

The woman's facial features are indeed very in line with the aesthetics of later generations, combining the advantages of Westerners and Orientals, but it is a pity that life is hard, and her appearance has been deformed at a young age.

The little girls who have not grown up are all beautiful embryos, and their hair is divided into two parts from the middle and braided at the back. One by one, they hugged their mother's legs, stuck their heads out, and looked at the envoys with wide eyes and curiosity—their peculiar hairstyles, and the hilts of their swords that never left their hands.

These Loulan people all wore coarse cloth spun from Luobu linen, and sewn together with wild duck skins to keep out the cold. Compared with the officials who changed into bright robes after leaving the desert, they were really ragged and exuded a strong fishy smell.

In fact, fish is the staple food of these Loulan people to entertain the envoys, but the method is difficult to describe.

Even so, the head of the village, the old witch with a crumpled face, asked each family to bring some food, one to bring a few fish, and the other to bring a waterfowl to entertain the envoys.

Sun Shiwan whispered to Ren Hong about what happened when they passed through this place last time:

"The last time we stayed here, a young man from the village tried to steal the iron pouts of our tents to make a trap, and I caught him red-handed. The whole village was very embarrassed, and the old witch immediately called all the families to discuss, and guess what happened in the end? ”

"How?" Ren Hong asked, drinking some fishy fish soup.

Sun Shiwan said: "Every family in the village, including the boy's parents, felt that the boy should be executed. This frightened us, and Fu Gong proposed that it be light, so the boy was punished with thirty beatings with a red willow branch, and driven out of the village to live on his own. ”

At least this time, the envoys came back and did not see the boy in the village.

Ren Hong's head, it seems that this village of the Loulan people belongs to the simple type, which is completely different from the cannibalistic female savages in Yadan Devil City.

The fisherman, "You Huan", was so enthusiastic about the Han envoys that after dinner he led Ren Hong to see the most sacred building in the village, the abode of the ancestral spirits: a round house built on dry heights, surrounded by more than a dozen pairs of red deer horns, with the skulls of black bears and cows in the inner ring, and some poles with yak tails on top of the building, which were modeled after the Han envoys' rituals, as well as many poplar figurines with strange and mysterious expressions.

Buddhism had not yet spread to the eastern part of the Western Regions, and the Loulan people still maintained a shamanic tradition that had lasted for thousands of years.

Although Ren Hong learned a little Loulan dialect from a Hu merchant in Hanging Quanzhi, this Tocharian dialect is a different language family from Han after all, and when they speak quickly, they can only understand approximately:

This is a village dedicated to fishing and hunting on the edge of Lop Nur, raising few livestock and no arable land, so it was borrowed from the city lord for farming next to the city of Yixun, which occupies the fertile land on the riverside dozens of miles to the west.

The reason why the village is so courteous to the envoys is that in addition to the fact that the Han envoys are the guests of honor of the king of Loulan and the city lords everywhere, but also because every time the envoys arrive, the people in the village can exchange for some Han goods.

Rice wine is the favourite for men, while women are interested in all sorts of fine luxuries: silk, cloth, lacquerware, and grooming knick-knuckles.

Although the only things that each family could show their hands were dried fish and the fur of their game, they still exchanged their eyes with the envoys.

The old witch even asked them to pick two of their favorite ones and give them generously.

Ren Hong had a good impression of this Loulan fishing village, and as a gift for their kind hospitality, Ren Hong picked out the things he brought and gave the old witch a delicate and smooth little bronze jian.

The old witch pointed to her wrinkled face and withered hair, shook her head, and gave it to her teenage granddaughter, the Loulan girl who looked good, and happily combed her long millet hair with a wooden grate......

The Loulan people, who received the goods from the Han region, were very happy, first showed them to others, and then boarded the canoe, found a place that others did not know, and buried these precious gifts in the sand......

That's how they hide their treasures.

However, You was still giving away dried fish, and after wanting to change a small bronze jian to his sweetheart and was politely refused, he took out another thing: a few five-baht coins and stuffed them to Ren Hong.

As soon as the money was in his hands, Ren Hong felt that something was not right, looked at it carefully, and called Lu Jiuyu to identify it, and the two of them were sure.

"This is the three officials and five baht cast in the early years! The eight achievements are those that were stolen and excavated in the graves of the Han army in Julucang. ”

The two discussed in a low voice, and began to ask Lu Jiuyu to ask You Huan, where did this money come from?

"Half a month ago, a group of Kangju merchants came from the east, passed by the village, and exchanged some dried fish with us......

"Do you know where they went?"

"When I went to the city to borrow land to cultivate, I heard that I was still staying in Yixun City, where I was selling goods from the Han land."

Lu Jiuyu's eyes suddenly lit up, and Ren Hong also let out a sigh of relief, and gave a bronze jian to You Huan.

It's really nowhere to find the iron boots, and it takes no effort to get them!

They immediately reported to Fu Jiezi:

"Fu Gong, those Kangju merchants in Yixun City are likely to be the tomb robbers who ruined the graves of my soldiers!"

After Fu Jiezi heard this, he didn't have any expression, just wiped his mouth and beckoned the officials to gather.

"Next stop, Ixun City!"

……

PS: This chapter refers to the Russian Przhevalsky's travelogue "Towards Lop Nur".

The information that needs to be checked is beyond imagination, and the next pen is late, so let's have a meal first, and the second chapter is at 11:30.