Analyzing the geographical situation of the Western Regions, the area south of the Tianshan Mountains is a large basin surrounded by high mountains. www.biquge.info There are Tianshan Mountains in the north, Kunlun Mountains in the south, Qilian Mountains in the east, and Green Mountains in the west. There is only one gap in the northeast, through the Mongolian plateau and northwestern Gansu. This basin is about 2,800 miles long from east to west and more than 1,000 miles from north to south.

Since the Han Dynasty, this area has been transformed into an endless desert.

But the desert is not lifeless, and many rivers that originate in the surrounding mountains are infused in the desert.

Among them, the Khotan River and the Green Ridge River converge to form a Tarim River from west to east, which flows into the Puchang Sea (now Lop Naoer).

Irrigated by numerous tributaries of the Tarim River, the desert is home to many fertile green states, suitable for animal husbandry and farming. As a result, some primitive tribes living here in the Qin and Han dynasties occupied oases in the desert, where they built city outlines and gradually formed many small city-states known as "countries".

Their presence is good for the people who come and go in the desert, and without them to clean and protect it, the water source will be silted up or covered by the wind and sand, and without the water source, the transportation will be completely cut off.

Or some people say that the Tarim River has a lot of water sources, which is true, but because the Tarim River evaporates strongly, the river water is relatively astringent, and it is okay to drink horses, and people who drink too much will get sick, and they can only be used for emergency purposes.

The water in the oases often comes from underground, is filtered, and the water quality is relatively sweet and drinkable!

Even if the people who guard the water source are on their feet in two boats, and the Tubo and Tang people are unhappy with them, as long as they are not too excessive, they still give them a smile.

"Welcome, guests from Datang!" With wide robes and big sleeves, a simple uncle with a face similar to Avanti spread his hands towards Feng Xiaobao and made a gesture of welcome!

"Please!"

One day when the sun was set, they arrived at an oasis.

The oasis in front of him has a water source of about two acres, where the water quality is good and can be drunk directly (of course, Tang Jun still boiled the water to drink).

The spring water flows into a small lake of twenty acres, which can be used for drinking horses.

The lake is full of poplar and willow trees, and the scenery is not bad.

The uncle and Feng Xiaobao exchanged names, his name was Shi Pantuo, he was the owner of the oasis here, and he welcomed the arrival of Tang Jun.

His surname is Shi, and he should be one of the nine clans of Zhaowu.

They gave spring water (to drink), fresh pasture grass (to feed the horses) and dried branches (fuel), and then sold dried fish, and with the gifts of these oases, they received money and goods from the Tang army as a reward!

Copper coins, rice noodles, jerky, shochu, silk and so on, the oasis has a lot of harvest.

Water, fresh grass and dry branches are not worth mentioning in many places, but here the oasis is abundantly harvested!

Feng Xiaobao personally led more than 1,000 elite horsemen to walk in front and encountered the oasis of Shipantuo.

The last time the army entered his oasis, this time he entered the oasis of Shipantuo, and was warmly welcomed by him, claiming to personally roast fragrant oasis fish for him to eat.

Looking at the two pretty maids in their twenties-year-old beside Shi Pan, Tang Tian hurriedly said: "No, we have a hard journey, I want to go to rest after dinner early!" ”

"It's a pity that I can't entertain the nobles of Datang!" Seeing that Feng Xiaobao refused to accept his invitation, Shi Pantuo was very sorry.

"I'll have a chance in the future!" Feng Xiaobao didn't disobey Tang Tian, so he could only say so.

I didn't expect to be developed after listening to my wife's words, and Feng Xiaobao escaped.

……

When night came, Fan Wuwu was so injured that Feng Xiaobao secretly asked to see him outside his tent.

"What is he doing at night?" Feng Xiaobao was surprised, but Fan Wuxian's status was certainly qualified to see him, so he let the guards go.

Fan Wuxian was not alone, but brought his horseman, an old soldier who had raised horses all his life.

Originally, the army was dispatched without the old guy, but the veteran was a part-time veterinarian and a companion.

The old army showed a clump of dry leaves, and there were fruits like small bells on the leaves, and he spoke vaguely, but Fan Wuxian said: "This is a kind of soft tendon grass that is a specialty of the Western Regions!" ”

"Soft Grass?!"

"Yes, after giving it to the livestock, there was no reaction at first, and there was no abnormality. After running to a certain extent, the livestock will be soft and weak, and they will not be able to run, and the effect will last for a day! Fan Wuxian shook the leaves and said nonchalantly: "There are some people in the Western Regions who know this grass, and they often use it to tame wild beasts and horses!" Soft tendons are actually harmless to them, they don't hurt their bodies, they just make them weak and unable to run. ”

"Getting to the point!" Feng Xiaobao was not interested in knowing popular science knowledge.

"There was no problem with the grass that was supplied to us at the beginning, but the grass that they (the Oasismen) came to give to the horses (the horses' supper) was mixed with a lot of soft grass. It's not unusual to have soft tendon grass in the pasture, and it's no problem for horses to eat one or two, but this time there are more soft tendon grasses in the pasture! Fan Wuxian shrugged.

The time when the Oasis people brought the soft grass was well chosen, and no one should have noticed the difference in the grass at night.

However, the old soldier who was not injured by Fan was more responsible, and he got the grass, and every time he cut it carefully to feed his chief's horse, found him soft grass, and reported it to the commander.

If there is an old man in the family, it is a treasure!

Nowadays, many people don't know the soft grass.

The old army is a part-time veterinarian, others don't know him, but he does, and it is also Tang Jun's luck.

"How many horses have eaten this fed pasture?" Feng Xiaobao asked.

Fan Wusheng smiled bitterly: "I went to check the camp, and when I came back, it was late, and basically all the Hexi horses were eaten!" ”

As for the backup horses, they eat the hay brought by the army

It seems that "they" were well prepared, and that the amount of pasture to feed the thousands of horses was not small, and that they could provide two meals.

"Can you get rid of the effect of this grass?"

"Can't!"

Feng Xiaobao muttered: "Our scouts are fifty miles away, in other words, our enemies will attack us fifty miles away, and at that time, the soft tendon grass will play a role." ”

He and Fan Wuxian looked at each other, thinking that when the enemy was ambushing in all directions, our horses couldn't run, that was true!

Can't fight, can't escape, uh, this time the Tubo people may get a general of the Tang Dynasty as a prisoner, I don't know if they can sell it to the Tibetan noblewoman?

Feng Xiaobao sighed and threw Fan Wusheng a bag of gold coins, there were twenty or thirty pieces!

The credit goes to Fan Wuxian, how can an ordinary old soldier reach the general, if he reports it layer by layer, he doesn't know how much of the credit and reward will fall on his head, which is like now, Fan Wuxian threw a big silver flower to the old army!

Twenty-five taels of official silver, a lot, as for the gold coins, of course, Fan Wuxian fell into the bag safely.

Knowing the conspiracy of the soft grass, there are two ways in front of Feng Xiaobao, one is to pretend not to know, continue to advance, and wait for the enemy to appear when the backup horse attacks, so the horsepower is not as good as the Hexi horse, and the outcome of the fight is unpredictable.

The second way is to stay in the oasis to defend and summon the rear team at the same time, which is much safer!

And you can catch that seemingly honest uncle and circle it around to see what tricks he can play.

Feng Xiaobao chose the first path. (To be continued.) )