Hearing Chai Huaixing's question, Tirqi immediately raised his eyes to look into the depths of the desert, as if he was looking for something, after a long time, Tirqi retracted his gaze, and pulled the reins of the horse to Chai Huaixing's side, stretched out his hand and pointed at the desert and said: "General Chai, look at a few clusters of sage grass there, their root system can be more than six feet into the sandy land, and they can completely rely on the water veins that go underground to survive. ”

"Are you sure you'll find enough water for your army to drink?" Chai Huaixing looked at the endless desert and had no bottom in his heart, after all, this desert has never been set foot by a large army, and the army must choose a place near a water source when traveling and camping, and this water source is the most difficult to find in the desert in front of him.

Tilqi thought carefully in his mind, the caravan he led in the desert over the years was no more than a hundred and ten people, relying on experience he could find a place in the low-lying place in the Tulun moraine from underground to aboveground, and finally converge into an oasis for these people to repair, but this is an army of more than 10,000 people, whether those oases can support the water of these people is really a matter that is still unknown.

However, Tilqi remembered an incident when he was a child, when he was still young, and after the death of his parents, he was chosen by the family to follow the previous Tilqi to lead the caravan into and out of the desert, and after another violent sandstorm, he clearly remembered that after losing most of the drinking water, the caravan people began to kill each other for the last bit of drinking water.

That incident was the most unforgettable memory in Tierqi's mind, and it made him clearly realize that there is nothing that people cannot do at the critical moment of survival. Old Tilqi took little Tilqi in his arms, and the two men sat in the camel cart and watched the caravan fight each other.

The reason why the two of them are so leisurely is entirely because they are in the middle of the desert, and if these people leave Tirqi, unless a miracle happens, there is only a dead end. Therefore, no matter how vicious these people are, they will not come to provoke Tyrkie to make trouble for themselves.

Little Tirch looked at the old Tirch, who was holding him in his arms, and asked, "Aren't you afraid?" ”

Old Tilqi smiled and said, "I was scared at the beginning, but I got used to it when I saw more later." In this desert, they can't do without us, because we understand the desert, we know every grain of sand, every clump of wild grass, every rotten tree, we will only survive in the desert if we leave them, but they will only have a dead end without us, so no matter how they fight each other, it doesn't matter to us, the only thing we need to care about is to think less about the daily water of a few people in the end. ”

Little Tilqi nodded as if he didn't understand, he couldn't understand why old Tilqi could watch people die in front of him so indifferently at his age, and then old Tilqi died, he took the name of Tilqi and buried Tilqi in a stone tomb in the desert. This is the final destination of Tirchi. Every time he crossed the desert with a caravan, Tirch would leave a few stones here, which he would use to build a tomb in the yellow sand on the day he died, and bury him in it. Each stone is said to represent the merits of the people of the caravan he brought safely out of the desert, and these deeds will follow him into reincarnation, bless him from suffering again.

Tyrch himself did not believe in these things, but the elder Tirch, who had brought him up and taught him to live in the desert, repeatedly begged him to do so, and Tirch could only do what he said. Later, Tilqi also brought countless caravans across the Tulun moraine in the desert, and slowly understood the intention of the old Tilqi, facing the boundless yellow sand all day long, believing that he could accumulate some merit with a caravan is the only trace of comfort in life, and Tilqi also began to leave stones, until he later joined the Western Regions Army.

It was this incident that made Tilqi remember that after the merchants fought each other, the old Tilqi also drew the knife from his waist, recited a scripture to the last merchant on the field who was seriously injured but still not dead, and then stabbed the knife into the man's chest, and the merchant made a gurgling sound in his throat, and his body twitched a few times before he was no longer alive.

"He is seriously injured, even in the county town, he may not be able to heal well, let alone in the desert." Old Tirch wiped the blood from the knife with a cloth covering the camel cart, then left the wagon where it was, put the corpses together, lit a fire, and burned them all.

Then the two of them each mounted a camel and walked aimlessly. After that great sandstorm, even the old Tilqi was lost, and he said to the little Tilqi: "This Tulun moraine is a sea of living sand, if you can only memorize a few routes, you will definitely die in the desert in the end, you must learn to feel the breath and pulse of the desert, learn to trace the water veins hidden under the yellow sand." ”

When they went out for more than a day, the water in the water bags of the two people was finally exhausted, and the two of them just tried to curl up under the cloak, lay on the camel and gasped, giving up control of the camel under the crotch, and only let them walk with themselves. At noon, the sun seemed to roast the sand, and just when they both felt a little desperate, the camel climbed over a sand dune, and a huge oasis appeared in front of them.

In this oasis you can see some drought-tolerant plants such as poplar willows and camel thorns, and in the center is a pool of clear water, which seems to the eyes of the two men like heaven, but neither of them urged the camels under their crotches to rush over, because it may also be a mirage that often appears in the desert, luring passing travelers to try to get close to it, and finally die of exhaustion.

It wasn't until the two camels themselves slowly walked into the oasis that the two dared to believe that the oasis that had cast a shadow on them was not a mirage, but a real existence, so they didn't care about the elders and the young, and rolled down from the camels in unison, lying on the water's edge and holding the clear lake water in the oasis into their mouths.

This pool of spring water is melt water from the snow peaks of the nearby high mountains, which flows underground for hundreds of miles and seeps out in this relatively low-lying place, and over the years it gathers into this pool of water, which also moistens the surrounding plants to form an oasis.

(End of chapter)