After a night of accommodation at the Fire Zoroastery in Spaham, we hit the road.

Being in a military town, in order to prevent the infiltration of foreign spies, the investigation of outsiders is unusually strict.

The day before yesterday afternoon, when we were trading in the square market of the castle, we were stopped three or four times by the sergeants patrolling the city.

Fortunately, with Demir's Governor's Edict of Herat and the Seal of the Dharma Protector as talismans, we were not entangled too much.

But it also shows that this is not a place to stay for a long time in these extraordinary times.

So all the entertainment for the night was cancelled, and after replacing all the horses with iron palms, making a deal with Uncle Praryl, and buying some supplies for the journey, we went back to church with Demir.

After dinner, while everyone was packing in the small square to plan the next stage of the itinerary, Bishop Sberham brought Demir a parchment document that had arrived in a hurry.

The Holy See of Herat asked her to quickly organize a group of clergy in Speham to accompany the army north to pacify the Zoroastrians who had been captured by the Imperial army for participating in the riots.

At stake is the lives of tens of millions of parishioners, and Miss Demir's original plan to accompany us to Babylon has failed.

On the second day we left Sberham Castle and we met with Demir and Mazda. Mani and Grande parted ways.

On the banks of the great river in front of us are two ancient Persian roads that lead into the distance, one leading to Khorasan in the north and the other to the Zagros Mountains in the west.

"Mr. Lighteer, when you return from Rome, you must visit me in Herat!"

Demir looked at me with teary eyes and smiled, as she handed me the edict of General Sbohan and the seven Zoroastrian ornaments she had just applied.

With these things, it can bring us a lot of convenience in the next trip.

In the past half a month, I have just had a secret affection with this beautiful Persian girl day and night, but it is time to part with the end of the world, which makes me feel embarrassed!

I really want to say it out loud to her: "Beloved Demir! Don't do any more Dharma protectors, let's go to the ends of the earth together! ”

If I had the courage to keep her and confess it loudly to her, I am sure that this Persian beauty would have gone with me without hesitation.

When she parted, Demir's eyes clearly told me to keep her.

It's a pity that now there is a wife at home who is looking forward to my return, and I no longer have the confidence to do whatever I want a year ago.

Moreover, Demir's role as the protector of Zoroastrianism is related to the comfort of the Persian congregation, as well as the common people who are waiting for her to redeem in the sea of red land on the way to the central part.

Grandpa has always taught us businessmen to walk the road, I must not spoil the family style that our Yi family has been inheriting because of my own selfish thoughts, this so-called do as you like and do not exceed the rules!

"Don't worry, Demir! We will be back at the end of the year, and if the young lady is interested, she can travel with us to the East! Father Leandal: They may now have taken root in the East, and you can take this opportunity to spread the Holy Fire Decree of your religion to our Great Han Kingdom! ”

I took a piece of silk with thin feathers from Gurandot, put it on Demir's head with my own hands, and gave it to Mazda. The two Persian brothers, Mani and Grande, each had ten Sassanid silver coins as a token of our gratitude.

"Brother Jincheng, is this true? I can take my husband's promise as the will of the gods of Mazda! ”

Demir's eyes lit up, and the colorful gold fluttered in the wind in the bright sun, and the beauty reflected was like an angel.

"A gentleman's words, the horse is hard to chase! Miss Demir, we're going to say goodbye! ”

Not far ahead, a contingent of more than 100 horses improvised by the Sberham Church had been waiting there for a long time.

I laughed and gave Miss Demir an affectionate hug, and lifted her onto the mount.

Mani and Grande also stepped forward to give each of us a close hug, and then everyone got on their horses and waved goodbye and set out on their respective journeys.

Before the eldest brother of the Canaanite Hesrul went to the East, he had been traveling with caravans throughout the Mediterranean coast, in the Babylon, Berthand, and Byzantine regions of the two river basins.

So he was so familiar with the traditional trade routes of these regions west of Bersham that we didn't need to look for another guide.

The best itinerary he planned for me was to walk northwest along the great river that came from the Zagros Mountains to the west. Then at a place called the Cambezi Pass, it crossed the entire Zagros Mountains westward to the upper reaches of the Tigris, the boundary river between the Sassanid and Byzantine Empires, and from there crossed the Great River into Eastern Roman territory. Travel west to the shores of the Mediterranean, where you can take a boat to Constantinople to find Charles for his help, or you can go directly to the city of Rome.

"Brother Ruer, this time we came to your hometown, don't you want to go back to your hometown to have a look?"

On the way west, Hesrul and I walked side by side, looking at the mountains in the distance and asked curiously.

"Why don't you want to, young master! Hehe, don't you have a saying in Middle-earth called hometown cowardice! I had just been married when I left the Temple Mount for the East with a Canaanite caravan, and in order to provide a good life for my family, I borrowed twenty gold coins from a Roman merchant as a share! Who would have thought that on the way back from Chang'an, our caravan encountered the Huns' horse team outside the Yumen Pass, and as a result, all the camels and horses were robbed. You also know the ending, we only have a total of about 20 people, how can we be the opponent of this group of tigers and wolves, everyone except me died under the scimitar of the Huns in the end! Ay! Later, I met your grandfather's caravan, and he kindly took me in until today. ”

Although more than 20 years have passed, Brother Ruhl is still sad and tearful when he talks about this past.

"Now it's good! You can also be regarded as the return of brocade, just in time for the whole family reunion, I will pay you all the debts you owe back then! ”

Looking at Brother Ruhl's sad appearance, I couldn't bear to say good words to persuade me.

"Thank you for your kindness! Hey, home is long gone! According to the law of the Roman kingdom back then, if we Canaanite natives do not repay their debts, our wives and children will become the property of the four creditors, and now we don't know where to sell them. Do not say! ”

This past that was unintentionally revealed caused endless sadness in Brother Ruhl, and this old man no longer paid attention to me and went to the front, and he didn't recover for half a day.

I hated to give myself a slap in the face, my grandfather had repeatedly told me that all the old guys in the caravan had unspeakable pasts, and if they didn't tell it themselves, I must not have so much boring curiosity to uncover other people's scars.

Today's incident with Brother Hesrul has taught me a great lesson.

"Young master, what's wrong with Old Man He?"

The young man's curiosity is enough, seeing that Brother Luer looked angry, Liu Zhen'er and Qin Chong rushed up and asked in a low voice.

"The young master must have mentioned the sadness of his hometown, Ruhr's heart is bitter!"

Langton, who was connected with the disease, knew Ruhl's mind best, and whipped after the old fellow to ease the atmosphere.

"Brother, look! The scenery on this hill is so beautiful! ”

The big bird of Qingluan didn't know what was already soaring in the blue sky, and Gulando looked at the scenery on both sides and cheered loudly.

We are in the middle of this hilly field at the eastern foot of the Zagros Mountains, and although it is the same hot and arid, it is completely different from the hellish scene of the central part of the country because of the great rivers around us.

But it is a densely populated and vibrant paradise.

It was the seventh month of the summer calendar, and it was the season when the wheat was ripe on the Persian plateau, and the mountains were full of golden harvest colors.

It blends with the bare gray-brown hills and mountains that emerge from the side of the riverside road from time to time, and the long river water like a silver ribbon is very much like the summer taste of our hometown in Khotan.

With such a beautiful scenery and a good time with wheat fragrance all the way, when will you wait if you don't hurry up?

So I stopped chatting with Gu Landuo and Qin Chong, and galloped on the ancient Persian road that stretched infinitely to the northwest.

It was a journey of more than 500 miles from the Gambisi Pass, and it only took our horse team a day and a half.

Ahead, to the west and north, there are towering thousand-year-old ice peaks and endless mountains, which are a bit like the green mountains and snowfields we walked through in early spring.

"Young master, it was from here that Cambyses the Great of the First Persian Empire led his troops south to occupy the Babylonian Kingdom, and pushed the Persian Empire's troops to Egypt under our Canaan and Pharaoh! That was when the Persian kingdom was at its strongest and most extensive! Today, this pass is where the Sassanid kingdom met with the Eastern Roman Empire in the west and the Duchy of Armenia in the northwest! Therefore, there were many fish and dragons and mountain bandits in this place back then, and now I don't know what happened! ”

Pointing to the old road he had walked twenty years ago with a horsewhip, Hesrul introduced with emotion.

"The Principality of Armenia? Don't know where the Mamikoryan family lives? I really want to visit these descendants of Shu Han Weihou! ”

Since I heard from the monks in the country of Fanyana that there is General Ma Chao of the Three Kingdoms, I came to this mysterious small country in the west to settle and multiply and become the country's first wealthy family.