Life in the boy camp was far worse than Chen Ding had imagined, especially the patrols along the route.

As mentioned above, the complex and changeable geographical environment of the Song Domain, the city is located on the border between the Sichuan Basin and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and the geographical environment is changeable and complex, and it is definitely more difficult to patrol along the route than Sakhalin, Northeast China, and tropical rainforest areas.

Now, a team that has gone through a lot of hardships is gradually approaching a checkpoint set up by the boy boy camp in the local area - this is a checkpoint that has just been set up, which is next to Huangsheng Pass, in the west source of the Minjiang River. The Minjiang River, a big river, originates from the Song Domain, and the east and west sources are all in the territory of the Song Domain.

Its eastern source is the Zhangla River, the source of the Minshan Mountain System in the north of Songpan County, the southern foot of the Gonggang Ridge Longbangou, the elevation of the pass is 3690 meters. The Bow Bar Ridge is named after its ridge like a bow bar. Its fighting platform has the origin of the Baihe River (the upper source of the Baishui River, a tributary of the Bailongjiang (Dianjiang), the largest tributary of the upper reaches of the Jialing River). Longbangou at the southern foot is the birthplace of the Minjiang River again), it is a water-dividing pass, the source of the Minjiang River Longbangou flows out from the pass, from north to south, the left Naquyang Ke River, Ayong ditch, the right Nazayi ditch, the "Water Jing Note" states: "The edge of the cliff is scattered, the small water is hundreds, and it has not been indiscriminate. ”

The west source originates from the Langjia Ridge of the Minshan Mountains in Songpan County. The upper source is called Huolong ditch, south turns to east, and the left Nada Tama ditch; Turn southeast and cross Gaotaizi, Nayangdong River on the left, turn south to the mouth of the two rivers, and Narema Zonggou on the right; Turn south to east, the right Na Da Long Ditch, and then cross the Huang Sheng Pass, the left Na Ya Yi Ditch, this section is also called the Huang Sheng Guan River. Again through the northeast village, the right to the old bear ditch; Southeast to the Sichuan main temple town Zhangla camp, and the east source convergence. The following is called Minjiang. Although the west source is not easy to walk, it is much easier to pass than the east source, and it is a very important passage for the Song Domain to communicate with the Qinghai Yushu area.

This is not a pleasant journey to the mountains and rivers, a group of people are going to replace the people and horses of the Huangshengguan Scout station, accompanied by a large number of pack horses, each horse carrying a large wooden box, the team shuttles through the mountains and valleys with steep mountains and rivers. As the border between the plateau and the basin, there is a huge drop, the peaks and valleys are deep, and the terrain plummets thousands of meters in an instant, just like a roller coaster. Cliffs everywhere, deep ditches and waterfalls.

Chen Ding's Lao Tzu once said that the Hengduan Mountains in the southwest are "looking up at the mountains and the sky, looking down on the river into a line", and the Song Domain is not yet the Hengduan Mountains, but now Chen Ding feels that this sentence can be used here.

Fortunately, the thousand-year-old caravan has opened up a route to communicate with Qinghai in a complex geographical environment, and this Chen Ding has saved a lot of effort through their passage.

From the Sui and Tang dynasties, Tibet began to have close ties with the Central Plains, and Qinghai was more of a Mongol territory during the Ming and Qing dynasties, but many Tibetans also lived here.

Ching Hai is too big, and the population here is too small.

The latter situation was formed by the joint promotion of science and technology, politics, economy and other aspects. The difficult living conditions are also one of the factors that must be at the forefront.

Due to the high cold and lack of oxygen on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Qiang, Tibetan and Mongolian peoples who have lived here for generations have always lived a nomadic life, and their staple food is tsamba, milk, ghee, beef and mutton. One is that they only have these to eat, and the other is that the local cold climate must also eat these high-fat, high-calorie things to survive, but people can't stand eating these greasy things for a long time! Tsamba is hot and dry, and excessive fat is not easy to decompose in the human body!

Look at traditional Chinese medicine, look at the Han people, in the middle and upper classes with a guaranteed quality of life, they have long advocated the combination of meat and vegetables, and the most common way to resolve greasy is to eat vegetables and pasta, but there are too many differences between barley and rice, white flour, and millet millet. On the plateau, the climate is too cold, and barley is one of the few plateau plants of this era. And ordinary vegetables simply can't grow. Even the PLA on the plateau in later generations wanted to solve the problem of not being able to eat vegetables, so they had to plant in their own greenhouses, and they could not directly plant melons and fruits in the ground, but put the soil into the pot, and then carry the east into the pot in order to survive the ......, and now this era can be imagined.

Therefore, tea has become an indispensable necessity for the lives of people of all ethnic groups in Tibet. This thing can not only decompose fat, but also prevent dryness and heat, "Compendium of Materia Medica" recorded: "Pu'er tea paste, black as lacquer, decanting first, green is better; Eliminate food and phlegm, clear the stomach and rejuvenate the body. Pu'er tea, steamed into a group, Xifan City, the most transformative. Pu'er tea has a bitter taste, relieves greasy cattle and sheep poison, bitterness, expels phlegm and lowers gas, and facilitates intestinal discharge. ”

Therefore, the tea trade that originated in the Tang and Song dynasties and flourished in the Ming and Qing dynasties became a great magic weapon for the Central Plains Dynasty to balance the people of all ethnic groups in Tibet.

Because tea is not produced in the alpine Tibet, they can only 'import'!

In the interior, civil servants and armies need a large number of mules and horses, but the supply exceeds the demand, and Tibetan areas and the border areas of Sichuan and Yunnan produce good horses and pack horses. As a result, the complementary trade of tea and horses, known as the "tea and horse market", came into being. In this way, mules, horses, furs, and medicinal materials produced in Tibetan areas and the border areas of Sichuan and Yunnan, as well as tea, cloth, salt, and daily utensils produced in Sichuan, Yunnan, and the interior, have been constantly flowing back and forth between the high mountains and deep valleys in the north and south of the Hengduan Mountains, and have become increasingly prosperous with the development of social economy, gradually forming an "ancient tea horse road" that has lasted for thousands of years.

After Chen Han Dingli, all kinds of canned fruits and dehydrated vegetables and seafood have also been imported into Tibet one after another, and the local meat and tsampa are the staple food, and vegetables and fruits are very scarce, which is the lack of many vitamins for human growth and metabolism, and there is no need to say more about the pursuit of canned fruits, dehydrated vegetables and all kinds of seafood.

It is said that long before Han tea entered Tibet, Tibetans collected the leaves of trees or the rhizomes of certain plants to boil tea with soil alkali. In the middle of the Tibetan period, tea from the Tang Dynasty began to enter Tibet one after another, and then the entire Tibetan ethnic groups could no longer do without tea.

In particular, the nobles of the tribes and the slave owners of the estates showed an immeasurable enthusiasm for the canned fruit, and the pickled fruit, which only retained its original taste, was the perfect gift for the middle and upper class nobles of Tibet in recent years when they visited others. Even tea bricks and salt are not as precious as canned food, even if tea bricks give people more than just taste, it can dissolve fat, and it is better to digest meat and dairy food, which also makes Tibetans once they come into contact with tea, they can never forget it. Moreover, the air pressure of the plateau is low, the water evaporation of the human body is strong, and the distentive pressure of the blood vessels increases. Therefore, the Tibetan folk have the mantra of 'one day without tea will be stagnant, and three days without tea will be sick'. The Han people also have records that "people love cheese, and if they don't have tea, they will be sick if they can't" and "the heat of barley is incomprehensible if it's not tea".

The so-called demand is a market, and there is a market for economic man.

Because tea is an important guarantee for the survival of the plateau peoples, since the Tang Dynasty, the successive regimes of the Central Plains have opened a 'tea and horse market' to exchange tea for horses. Tea was even used as an important political bargaining chip, and a strict policy was formulated for the production and sale of tea, and a planned economy of unified purchase and sales was formulated. It not only monopolizes the tea profits but also governs the border with tea, so there is also the saying that "it is a fetter and a good soldier than tens of thousands of soldiers". This phenomenon is of great benefit to the tea farmers, tea workers, and tea merchants in Sichuan and Yunnan, as well as the porters and mules and certain intermediary agencies, all of whom make a living and make profits. Therefore, no matter how the regime of the Central Plains changes, the 'Ancient Tea Horse Road', a green ancient road connected by life, will always be endless.

The same is true of the connection between the Song Domain and Qinghai Sea, where groups of caravans shuttle through the mountains and mountains to communicate the closest connection between Tibet and the Central Plains.

It is the ancient highway of plateau civilization with the highest altitude and the most difficult passage in human history. Heavy snow, hail, scorching sun, and high winds can occur throughout the day, and the temperature can vary greatly. The climate change is more drastic in the middle of the year, and the folk proverb says: "On the second and third, the snow covers the mountains; Four, five, six, drenched and crying; Seven, eight, nine, slightly easier to go; Ten winter wax, learn to climb dogs. "You can imagine the difficulty of the journey.

For example, now, it is noon, and the valley, which had been snowing heavily, is sunny again. The sun shines through the whitening clouds, sending out golden beams of light. The horses, carrying the large pile of goods, shook their heads excitedly, shaking off the droplets left behind by the melting, and a fist-sized bell dangled from their necks, making a ding-dong sound as their bodies shook.

These horses are all southwestern horses that are good at mountain crawling, but the too rugged mountain trails and the complex and changeable geographical environment still make them all exhausted, one by one sweating profusely, panting in their mouths, and the guide who led the team is an old man in his fifties, at this time he said: "Stop, unload everything, the horses are tired, let them rest for a while." ”

Men and horses are still the same. Male, people are not easy. The long journey over the mountains and mountains made people and horses feel unusually tired. And the purpose still seems so far away.

Before leaving, the guide was called over by the leader of the boy camp to give a special lecture, to pay attention to safety, to rest properly, and never have an accident when crossing the mountains and mountains.

Although those chests on horseback are full of very precious and precious things, for ordinary herdsmen, the value of one box is enough to buy their entire family, but all the boxes on horseback here are not as good as a single hair of Chen Ding.

The children of these powerful people who came to the Boy Scouts, including Chen Ding, could be injured or even killed on the way to the mission, but they must not lose anything in the 'indifferent' march, so the commanders of each boy boy scout camp set the longest exercise time for them, even if there was an order from above, saying that the boy boy camps around the country should be strict with the training group, but who would dare. There are not only countless descendants of Nanjing's magnates, but also the princes.

There were fifty or sixty people in this team, half of them were ordinary Boy Scout soldiers, and the rest were all the children of the powerful led by Chen Ding. At this time, everyone was unloading the heavy boxes on horseback, including Chen Ding. It's just that the boy scouts who are in the same group as Chen Ding are not very old, only fourteen years old, but they are even more fierce than Chen Ding and have great strength. As soon as I tried my best, I directly moved a box down. Then another wooden box full of medicinal substances was gently placed on the ground by the two of them.

It's the third day of entering the mountain, Wangshan runs a dead horse, this map shows that the distance between Huang Shengguan is not too far, but in fact, it is not a casual place.

Chen Ding's appearance is much stronger than Chen Ming, at least his skin is very white, and his clothes are kept neat, except for a spear on his shoulder, a double-barreled handcuff hanging from his waist, and a short knife hanging from his waist, the leather scabbard looks gray and inconspicuous, and there is no gem pearl embellishment, but in essence, it is absolutely crocodile skin, not old cowhide. And the double-barreled handcuff he carried around his waist was also a fine piece of ivory handle.

Chen Ding didn't do it all the way, he didn't go horseback riding, he had a good temper, he didn't have a fight, at least it was much better than these boy scouts imagined.

"Da Mao, according to this footpath, can we go to the campsite today? Tomorrow afternoon, we should be able to enter Huangsheng Pass. ”

"Report to the corporal," corporal This is the military rank that Chen Ding now has, "we may not be able to hand it to the camp today, this day is cloudy and sunny, and it will have a great impact on our march." It is estimated that it will take two days to walk. Da Mao, that is, Mao Yongsheng replied truthfully according to his own experience.

It is also a loss that the top has slowed down the biggest point in time, otherwise it would be impossible to arrive at Huang Shengguan in three days this time. Yes, the normal travel time, the camp only gives three days. If the overtime is not overtime, the team leader will be miserable.

"Two more days? Then when we get to Huangshengguan, it shouldn't take us five days. "Chen Dingren is not a fool, how can he not know that five days is wrong? It's people who take care of them. He thought it would have been at least a day earlier, but now it was the standard five days. Chen Ding's expression was a little unhappy, he knew that this time he had actually lost.

"Report corporal, you don't have to be discouraged. This road is not easy to walk in winter, and seven, eight or nine is the easiest time. There is an old saying that the horses in this place are two or three, and the snow covers the mountains; Four, five, six, drenched and crying; Seven, eight, nine, slightly easier to go; Ten winter wax, learn to climb dogs. Although we spent a lot of time on the way, we were able to rush to Huang Shengguan in the specified time, which was the biggest victory. Mao Yongsheng hurriedly comforted Chen Dingdao.

Seriously, Mao Yongsheng and the others already admired Chen Ding's group. Being able to climb mountains and mountains for several days without complaining of bitterness is definitely beyond Mao Yongsheng's expectations.

You must know that there is also a tea and horse trading office in Huangshengguan, that is, the tea and horse division and the tea class division in the past, and the power of the tea and horse trade in all dynasties is in the hands of the imperial court. Now there is a group of hairy boys who are as old as them in Nanjing, who do not complain of hardship or tiredness, this is the biggest exercise.