The bonfires that the sergeants had set up in camp were burning brightly, shining on everyone's faces, and many were excited and apprehensive as they entered the swamp along the trade route to-morrow. It was late at night, and most of the sergeants cursed the damn cold, but Zhao Xingde knew that the colder the weather, the less ice and snow melt water there would be upstream, and Pu Changze would not suddenly flood because of the water coming from upstream. Because of the cold, the dunes move at the slowest rate of the year. In the vicinity of Da Liusha and Pu Changze, this time is the safest.

Zhao Xingde checked that every sergeant in the team had slept peacefully, and then he got into the camp tent, hugged the quilt and lay down on the cold and dry felt carpet, and soon fell asleep, sometimes dreaming that Li Ruoxue leaned against the door, and ran over excitedly when he saw him returning. Suddenly, I dreamed that Zhang Bing's face was pale, looking at him, and his mouth seemed to be talking, but he couldn't hear what was said. Suddenly, I dreamed of the groundbreaking ceremony of the big steel mill that I had worked so hard for in the future, and suddenly I saw my name engraved on a black stone tablet, and the people around me shoveled one by one, and the blood-red soil gradually covered themselves in the boundless darkness of no consciousness.

The next morning, the bells of the sergeants on duty rang through the camp, and the sergeants who were camping were in good order, some were making fires, some were feeding horses, and some were tying up their tents. Before the hour came, the five hundred sergeants lined up and slowly left the post station along the road they had chosen yesterday.

Du Fujiao and others tried their best to distinguish the aquatic plants, hoof prints of camels and horses, and rut marks along the way. The sergeants of the 7th Battalion of Chengying led camels and horses, drove carts, and marched slowly in the mud on the bank of Puchangze.

The trade route sometimes turned southwest, sometimes north, and after six days and seven nights, the sergeants were already a little dazed before they came to a dry river. Looking at the quicksand under the riverbed, Du Fujiao's face was even more ugly than that of a dead man. The most important thing is that after following this trade route in circles in swampy water meadows for several days, he now does not know where he is even when he faces the map.

The camp was spent in a poplar forest on the bank of a dry riverbed. During the military discussion, everyone looked at each other and was embarrassed by silence.

After waiting for a while, Zhao Xingde confessed, walked to the marching map, stretched out his hand, and said in a deep voice: "We are here." Then he went back. During the six days along the way, he would camp every night, and he would determine his position, and he had a good understanding of the situation of the army going around on the banks of Pu Changze.

"So it's here!" Du Fujiao was stunned for a moment, then coughed, touched Zhao Deshicai to point there, looked down, and couldn't help but say with joy on his face: "Less than a hundred miles to the south, it is the end of the river." ”

Wang Tongdeng sneered at this time: "A hundred miles of swamp land without roads, do you want to fill it with human lives?" ”

Du Fujiao was stunned for a moment, and realized that he was not very responsible, and in a hurry, he turned his attention to Zhao De again.

Zhao Xingde sighed secretly, although this old Du has a little bit of energy, he has no scheming, no wonder he has always been just a ten-master. Seeing that everyone's eyes followed Du Fujiao, he got up again, pointed to the map and said: "There is a mistake, for the sake of today's plan, follow this dry river out of the swamp, and then turn to the south, and use Sinan's guidance to find the course of the end of the river." ”

Du Chuijiao suddenly realized, and secretly scolded himself for being completely overwhelmed by the frustration of being lost, and he didn't even think through such a simple truth, and immediately said: "Just follow Zhao Shichang's proposal." ”

Zhao Xingde's suggestion was originally one of the most reasonable choices, and Du Fujiao's words of approval came out, and others also echoed it. Originally, a few people wanted to speak out against it, but they stopped speaking at this time. In the end, the ten commanders deliberated and decided to march according to Zhao De's proposed route.

After walking along the dry riverbed for three days, and finally leaving the confines of the swamp, Zhao Xingde immediately guided the brigade out of the river and turned south. Every night I camped in the desert, and the wind howled around me, like a ghost crying. Sometimes you will encounter strange rocks that have been eroded by thousands of years of wind and sand towering over the sand dunes, like monsters.

The deeper you go into the desert, the more difficult it becomes to get water, and you have just left the swamp for only a few dozen miles, and when you camp at night, even if you dig three feet into the ground, there is no water. After the water source was cut off, the idea that the big quicksand "could not get in and out" also secretly grew in everyone's minds, and many sergeants began to feel uneasy, hoping that if it was really as Zhao De said, two days further south would be the end of the river.

Zhao Xingde was very calm on the surface, and still observed the location of the marching camp every day, and carefully marked it on the map. In order to stabilize the morale of the army, Du Blowhorn asked Zhao De to spread out the map and point out to everyone where the army had marched today.

Although Zhao Xingde is convinced that the positioning of Guantian and the direction of Si Nanyi will never be wrong. But the boundless sea of sand and the Gobi naturally make people feel a sense of despair, and hundreds of robes see that Zhao Xingde is calm and calm, and he unconsciously has some certainty in his heart. And Zhao Xingde's longest trek was the one when he fled from Bianjing with Li Ruoxue. His apprehension and apprehension could only be hidden deep under his calm and gentle countenance.

After four days of walking south, I finally saw that after the undulation of the sand dunes, on the distant horizon, like a mirage, a forest with no head to the east and no end to the west.

"Is this the river of the end of the river?" Wang Tongdeng licked his chapped lips and asked Jian Cheng. Jian Cheng looked to the side, Zhao Xingde nodded, and said in a deep voice: "That's right." At this time, several people were listening to him with their ears pricked up.

"Found your way!" "This is the end of the river!"

Almost all the sergeants believed Zhao Xingde's judgment at the first time, and as soon as these words came out, several cheers broke out in the marching column. Wang Tongdeng quickened his horse, led the cavalry team to rush forward, and after crossing the poplar and red willow bushes, a frozen river suddenly appeared in front of him, like a jade dragon winding in the sandbank on both banks. The overjoyed cavalrymen immediately turned their horses, turned back to the woods, and shouted to the crowd of figures: "Yes! This is the end of the river! Suddenly, even more enthusiastic cheers erupted among the sergeants of the Chengying Battalion in the distance.

"Lao Zhao, I'll just say that you must be fine." Jian Cheng punched Zhao Xingde in the shoulder.

Zhao Xingde didn't care about fighting back, he cheered loudly with hundreds of sergeants, and released all the pressure accumulated in the past ten days. Only now did I feel a sense of relief.

Fifteen days later, estimating that the distance was approaching and the end of the city, Zhao De proposed that five hundred sergeants unfurl the banner of the seventh battalion of the Chengying Army, and under the leadership of the ten commanders, they sang military songs all the way and marched towards the city. All the sergeants are experienced in the army, and naturally know that no matter how tiring the journey is, they must be refreshed when they arrive. As a result, the Commander of Ten Military Council once again agreed to Zhao De's proposal.

"The white horse is decorated with golden fetters, and it gallops northwest. By asking who the son is, he is a ranger. When I was young, I went to the countryside and raised my voice in the desert. In the past, Bingliang bowed, and the arrow was uneven. Control the string to break the left, and the right to destroy the moon branch...... Sacrifice your life to go to the country, and see death as if you were going home. ”

The faint sound of military songs reached the end of the city, and Zhou Yuanzhong, the commander of the Chengying Army, smiled and looked at the military flag raised high by the seventh battalion, with the cavalry in front, the carriage and camel in the middle, and the infantry army in the rear.

Luo Zongmeng, the commander of the Ran Army, praised: "The Chengying Army is indeed formed by the elite of the forbidden army, marching for nearly a thousand miles, and the morale is high. "Luo Zongmeng and Zhou Yuanzhong originally served in the Dragon Tooth Army, and when they heard that he had arrived, they made a special trip from Khotan to entertain him.

Listening to Luo Zongmeng's praise, Zhou Yuanzhong was proud in his heart, and scolded with a smile: "These guys also have a heart, and I will take it lightly for the fault of this private military flag." "At this time, the training of the 7th Battalion has not yet been completed, and the Chengying military flag has not been awarded, and now this pole is painted on the military flag by the sergeant with charcoal ash.