Chapter 200: The Desert

As soon as Jieli said that he was going to guide, Jieli immediately readily agreed and sent three middle-aged people who were said to have been running in the south and north of the desert all the year round to the Tang Mission. However, when Jieli knew that they were going to Mobei to pardon the leader of Xue Yantuo, Yi Nan, as the Khan, Jieli's smiling face suddenly froze.

Although they successfully appreciated Jieli's expression, Zhang Yunwen and Li Daoxuan did not have any joy in their hearts. They were about to leave the Turkic tent in a hurry and head to Mobei.

So, this envoy team of more than 300 people hurriedly set off with a large amount of supplies and went all the way to the north. As for the property that Zhang Yunwen asked for from Jieli, Jieli was generous, and did not take any cattle and sheep or other livestock, but directly gave Zhang Yunwen and Li Daoxuan a small bag each, it seems that there are probably more than 100 grains, such as the size of a finger, and most of the pockets are filled.

Zhang Yunwen and Li Daoxuan were also not polite, put them on their waists, and politely said thank you to Jieli.

Seeing the back of the mission in the distance, Jieli clenched his fists tightly and felt a burst of anger. He should have been the only Great Khan on the grassland, but after the arrival of this mission in Xue Yantuo, the Yi man of Xue Yantuo, the Tiele people, will also have the title of Great Khan. For this, Jieli felt extremely angry. However, thinking of the decline of the Turks, he couldn't help but let go of his fist and looked into the distance with some dejection.

A rickety horse, Zhang Yunwen faced Li Daoxuan and said, "Come, Brother Li, look at this!" As he spoke, he handed a glove with Chinese characters written on it to Lee Daoxuan.

Li Daoxuan, who was wearing thick black leather gloves, took the note, quickly skimmed it, and then frowned slightly: "Yunwen, is the news on this credible?" ”

Zhang Yunwen nodded: "This is from the investigators of the investigation institute lurking in the tooth tent!" Definitely accurate. Besides, if you look at Jieli's performance over the years, it also shows that Hu Ren has been somewhat out of Jieli's grasp, and it is very likely that he will do his own thing! ”

The paper read: "Hu General Chebiro wants to seek the mission!" ”

The so-called Hu people refer to the non-Turkic people in the steppe, mainly the Sogdians who came from the Zhaowu Jiu surname. In addition to the guards of the seven Turkic families such as Ashina, the remaining main forces of the battle were the Hu people and the vast servant army of the Xi and Khitan tribes. However, Jieli reused the Hu people, despised the servant tribes, alienated the Turkic headquarters, and made a large number of servant tribes annex to the Tang Dynasty. And every year the army plundered the Central Plains, and it was the Hu people who took the main force of battle.

And this Chibiro is not a top general among the Hu generals, but can only be regarded as a midstream general, with a total of more than 10,000 soldiers and horses in his headquarters. He wanted to plot the mission, but he must have been instigated and instigated by other Hu generals.

Li Daoxuan smiled slightly, turned his head and glanced at the long team behind him: "With the three hundred people trained by Yunwen, I'm afraid that Qibiluo will have to take two thousand people to eat." But is he willing to do it? ”

"It's better to be careful!"

The horse team went all the way north, and if the weather was fine, they would go faster; In case of rain and snow, it is to stop and camp.

Fortunately, they replenished enough supplies in the tooth tent this time, and it was enough to support them to go to Mobei.

Along the way, I also met several small tribes that were migrating or settling down, and when they saw the horse team, they all showed a wary look, and they did not relax until the horse team was far away.

After four or five days of marching in the cold wind, everyone finally arrived in the desert.

The reason why I know that we are about to reach the desert is because there are fewer and fewer yellow pastures on the bare surface that has not been covered by snow, and there are more and more yellow soils in the form of sand. A gust of north wind blew, and a vague layer of "sand mist" rose from the ground.

At the edge of the desert, the mission made a break.

The three Turkic guides were sent to Li Daoxuan's big tent, and the fluent Turkic speaker Xu was also in the big tent.

Listening to this Lord Xu ask a few questions that Zhang Yunwen had prepared one by one in Turkic language, the three Turks looked at each other a few times with trepidation, and then slowly answered.

Then the three Turkic guides were invited out of the tent.

Lord Xu said, "My lord, according to your instructions, I have already asked a few questions. Generally speaking, it takes about seven days to travel through the desert, and as for the walking route, the three have different opinions. And the most precious thing in the desert, they say, water. Do you still have a discerning direction, relying on the sun during the day and the stars at night? ”

Hearing this answer, Zhang Yunwen smiled: "It seems that a few of them are telling the truth, but I don't know if they will really lead the way for us." Well, get some rest tonight, we're going into the desert tomorrow! ”

On the second day, everyone entered the desert in high spirits.

The three Turkic guides were watched left and right by the soldiers. The horizontal knife in the soldier's hand was already unsheathed.

Not far into the desert, I found pools of snow scattered on the desert. But the color is almost earthy yellow.

The cold north wind blew and fell on the face, with some rough feeling. When I wiped it with my hand, I saw that the gloves were covered with a thin layer of yellow sand.

The days of walking in the desert are very boring, although everyone is attracted by this vast and desolate rough scenery when they first enter the desert, but they will inevitably get tired after watching it for a long time. So, on the third day, the whole team was silent, and no one made a sound.

It wasn't until the fifth that Zhang Yunwen suddenly realized that something was wrong.

From the day I entered the desert, the sky has been dense with clouds, thickly covering the sun, moon and stars, and everyone can't rely on them to distinguish the direction. By the fifth day, although the sky was still cloudy, it was much thinner, and the sun was faintly visible. Therefore, during the day on the fifth day, Zhang Yunwen found a problem, his horse team seemed to have been going further west.

You must know that in this kind of desert, at a glance, it is all yellow sand, and it is difficult to distinguish between east and west, and it is difficult to distinguish between north and south. Even a person like Zhang Yunwen, who had received special training in his previous life, is prone to disorientation in this environment. Therefore, without the guidance of the sun, moon and stars, Zhang Yunwen did not find that the guide was taking the wrong way.

The horse team was immediately ordered to stop. Zhang Yunwen clearly saw that two of the three guides couldn't help but tremble slightly when the brigade stopped.

"Yunwen, what's going on?" Li Daoxuan rode up to Zhang Yunwen's side and asked in a low voice.

Zhang Yunwen's face was as cold as ice, and the horsewhip pointed at the two Turkic guides who were trembling a little: "I didn't see it a few days ago, but today I realized that we have been going west!" If you want to go north to Mobei, how can you go west? ”

Li Daoxuan reacted immediately, and looked at the three Turkic guides with a cold face.

As Zhang Yunwen's horsewhip pointed from afar, the horizontal knives of several soldiers immediately rested on the three of them. The three of them suddenly trembled like chaff.

Seeing this, Lord Xu hurried up. Zhang Yunwen said to him: "Lord Xu, who are you?" ”

Lord Xu hurriedly asked, only to see that the three of them were silent at the same time, and after a while, one of them said something in Turkic, and the other two nodded their heads in a hurry.

"My lord, they say that they are Turkic guides, and they are led the mission north by the order of the Khan!" Master Xu translated.

Zhang Yunwen showed a cruel smile: "You told them that General Ben was extremely dissatisfied with this answer. So, the man's left foot is gone! He pointed to the Turk who had spoken first.

As soon as Zhang Yunwen's voice fell, before Lord Xu could translate, a soldier cut off the man's left leg below the knee with a "whoosh". Crimson blood splattered out and shot on the sand, slowly enveloping in the sand. And the broken calf twitched slightly.

"Ahh Holding his broken knees with both hands, he rolled around on the ground.

A group of civil officials had seen such a battle, and they couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva in unison, looking at Zhang Yunwen with palpitations.

Master Xu stammered Zhang Yunwen's words to the remaining two Turkic people who were already frightened. The two of them were silent for a moment.

Zhang Yunwen showed a cold smile again: "Tell them, dozens of times, whoever doesn't answer will cut off his two feet!" ”

Lord Xu hurriedly said Zhang Yunwen's words. I saw that before Lord Xu finished speaking, the two Turks rushed to say something. As he spoke, he suddenly pointed his target at the other party and shouted loudly, and in the end it developed to the point where his fists and feet intersected.

For a while, the picture on the desert was a little weird. A Turk screams like a pig on the ground with a broken leg. Two Turks fought together.

Lord Xu looked at Zhang Yunwen, who was a little ugly, and said in a low voice: "Uh, my lord, he seems to be talking about seduction, coercion and the like!" ”

Zhang Yunwen frowned: "Let them talk about it!" ”

Lord Xu was about to speak, but saw an iron arrow "whoosh" into the sand in front of them. The two of them immediately restrained their hands and feet and stood on both sides. He looked at the soldier who shot the iron arrow with fear.

The soldier, however, slowly stepped forward, took out the iron arrows that had been buried deep in the sand, glanced at the two Turks, and returned to the queue.

Lord Xu cleared his throat and said a few words in Turkic. As soon as the words fell, one of the Turks hurriedly spoke, while the other's face became a little ugly, and he also spoke loudly, and pointed to the man lying on the ground and wailing.

After hearing what the two of them said, Lord Xu hugged his fists and said: "My lord, these two people said that they are indeed guides sent by Jieli, but the two of them are Turks, and the other one is a Hu person. The Hu man bribed one of them, and then the two of them worked together to threaten the remaining one, and the three of them deliberately took the wrong direction in the desert, hoping to wait for us to run out of supplies and starve to death in the desert. Of course, the three of them have always wanted to take the opportunity to escape, but they have been closely guarded by the soldiers and cannot find a chance! ”

Zhang Yunwen sneered when he heard this: "Tell them to take us to the right path immediately, if you can't get out of the desert within three days, then don't worry that General Ben didn't give them a chance!" ”

As soon as Master Xu finished translating, the two Turks kept kowtowing to Zhang Yunwen, and then spoke a lot of Turkic language. After translation, Zhang Yunwen knew that what the two of them said at this time was all fleshy flattery.

So, the mission was back on the road, but in a different direction. Under the threat of crossbows, the two Turkic guides had to lead the way seriously.

And the Hu guide, who had one leg cut off, was thrown by everyone in this desolate desert.