Between Yanmen Pass and the Jingoolan Desert, there is a Gobi region, and when the mission was in Luoyan Town, it felt a desolate atmosphere, and this feeling became more and more obvious all the way north.

The vast Gobi, the ground is covered with coarse sand and gravel, the terrain is gentle, it is difficult to see the water source, even the plants are very few, as far as the eye can see, a vast expanse.

From time to time, a long chirp of a goshawk sounded, circling by.

The team slowly marched forward in the Gobi, trampling on the coarse gravel on the ground rustling, on the Gobi, sometimes there will be stone pillars, after a long time of wind and frost, dry and red, that is a rare scene in the pass, some long-necked vultures perched on the stone pillars, when the team passed, these vultures made a terrible chirp, not afraid of people, just looking at the team from afar.

Compared with the edge of the Gobi where Luoyan Town is located, there are gradually more coyotes seen in the depths of the Gobi, although they dare not approach, but they follow from a distance, but they seem to be waiting for someone in the mission to be left alone, and then sneak attack.

Coyotes and vultures make the Gobi even more full of a strange atmosphere.

Along the way, I didn't see a team of people, the color of the vastness, the whole world seemed to be the color of earth, gloomy and empty, although the mission team was nearly 400 people, but in the vast Gobi, it was only a small point.

The camel riders of the Qiu family, led by Qiu Yinghao's father and son, walked in front of the team, while the camel riders of the Ma family opened up a distance, Chu Huan saw it clearly, and his intuition told him that there must be some kind of problem between the two camel riders, but what it was, he didn't know at the moment.

Xuanyuan Sheng is the most active person in the entire team, and he has to patrol back and forth from time to time, and at this moment, he has galloped to Chu Huan's side and asked: "Deputy Envoy Chu, this is the first time you have seen the Gobi outside the pass, right?" ”

Chu Huan smiled and nodded, "Has General Xuanyuan been here before?" ”

"Nope." Xuanyuan Shengcai smiled: "This is my first time out of the customs, and I have never seen such a place before." Looking at it from afar, he said softly: "It is said that the Thirteen Taibao under General Feng pursued and killed three thousand Xiliang soldiers all the way to the desert, but I don't know if they passed through this place. ”

"The Great Gobi is boundless, and it is really unclear where the Thirteen Taibao passes." Chu Huan shook his head and said, "But it's true that there have been people dead here. ”

Xuanyuan Shengcai's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly asked, "How does Deputy Envoy Chu know that there have been people killed here?" ”

Chu Huan raised his hand and pointed not far away, Xuanyuan Sheng turned his head to look over, but saw that there were several wrecks not far away, only white bones remained, but he could also see that it was a human bone, and at this moment there was a vulture standing next to a skull, and his eyes full of death were looking at the mission team.

Xuanyuan is a dignified general, and he is a bold artist, but when he sees the white bones of the Gobi, he still feels cautious and panicked.

"People say that the Chingoolan Desert is a place of death, and now it seems that it lives up to its name." Xuanyuan Shengcai sighed: "There is no desert yet, it is like this, I really want to go in, but I don't know what kind of scene it is." Then he approached Chu Huan, looked at the Ma family's camel rider team in front of him, and asked in a low voice: "Deputy Envoy Chu, this Ma family's camel guest, should we be careful?" ”

Chu Huan's expression was calm, and he asked softly, "Does General Xuanyuan think they have a problem?" ”

"I'm not sure, but it feels a little weird." Xuanyuan Shengcai said softly: "I inquired privately, these two camel riders got along very well before, and there was no big contradiction. The camel rider won the bid, for the camel rider, that is a feud, that Ma Dangjia and Qiu Yinghao are brothers, why did he suddenly win the bid? ”

Chu Huan smiled and said, "What else does General Xuanyuan know?" ”

Xuanyuan Shengcai said softly: "Yesterday, Ma Zhengyi won the bid, I felt that something was wrong, so I privately found two camel riders to inquire, these two people used to follow the same camel rider to the desert and belonged to the same brother, and then the old camel rider died, Ma Zhengyi took the mantle of the old camel rider, and Qiu Yinghao set up another door. Although this is the case, the relationship between the two families is very good, a long time ago, the two families have decided to have children and daughters, although they have not yet passed the door, but they can already be regarded as half of the family! ”

Chu Huan bowed his head and said, "I have also heard a little about this matter. ”

"The two camel riders also said that just a few days ago, the two brothers had been drinking together, and they seemed to be intimate." Xuanyuan Shengcai frowned: "But it's only been a few days, Ma Zhengyi suddenly turned his face and won the bid, and even the people in the town didn't know what was going on." Approaching Chu Huan, he said softly: "Deputy Envoy Chu, as the saying goes, things must be strange when things go wrong, the purpose of this Ma Zheng's bid is to be able to follow us into the desert, his heart is unknown, we must be careful." ”

Chu Huan said with a straight face: "What General Xuanyuan said is that we have never been in contact with these camel guests before, so we still have to be careful in everything." ”

Thinking of Ma Zhengyi's strange behavior, he thought of the three Liu Meiniang who suddenly appeared, and couldn't help but turn his head to look, Liu Meiniang and the three of them were not far in front, and they were some distance from the camel team of the mission, Chu Huan looked over, but found that the Liu girl wearing a hat was also looking back at her side, far away, Chu Huan couldn't figure out whether Liu Meiniang was looking at herself, frowned slightly, but found that Liu Meiniang did not look away.

……

……

At dusk, Qiu Yinghao stopped his horse in front of him, and ordered the team to camp and rest, before leaving, everything was said to be good, and Qiu Yinghao had the final say on the way or go or stop, although the sky was not completely dark, but since Qiu Yinghao spoke, the team also stopped.

Qiu Yinghao rode over and told Chu Huan that before setting up camp, he would first unload all the goods on the camel's back, so that the camel would also rest.

The camp of the camel riders was to be separated from the mission, but in fact, when the camp was completed, several camps were formed.

The mission is one place, and the two camel riders are also camped separately, and the other is Liu Meiniang, with the help of the camel riders, not far from the Qiu family's camel tent, and set up two small tents.

The bonfire was lit, Xue Huaian and other officials were already exhausted after the bumps in the Gobi all day, and they rested early after eating something, but they still needed to be on duty at night, Chu Huan and Xuanyuan Shengcai discussed, Chu Huan served as the first half of the night, and Xuanyuan Shengcai rotated in the second half of the night.

Qiu Yinghao also came to pass the word, except for the people on duty, it is best for everyone else to rest early, recuperate, according to the route, tomorrow at noon, they will enter the desert, after entering the desert, the energy and physical strength consumed are much stronger than now, so before entering the desert, it is best to rest.

The camel riders were so familiar with these natures that they had dinner, and left two men on patrol duty, while the others rested early, and the camp was soon silent at night, and the campfire was not extinguished, lest the coyotes enter the camp in the dark.

Along the way, there are coyotes from time to time to follow out of a certain way, always like looking for an opportunity, until following a long way to determine that they can't find an opportunity, then they retreat, but the previous group of retreats, there will be another group of coyotes to follow, Gobi coyotes usually do not act alone, three or five coyotes swim, in the dead of night, if these coyotes take advantage of the loopholes, take advantage of the darkness to touch into the camp, even if it does not hurt people, even if it hurts horses and camels, it is not good.

There was a campfire, and the coyotes did not dare to come closer.

Chu Huan was on duty in the first half of the night, and walked around the camp on foot, the cold air was getting heavier and heavier this night, and Chu Huan also put on the cotton robe that he had prepared before leaving the customs, although it was bloated, it was very warm.

In the night of the Gobi, you can still see the moon in the sky, and the moon is still very clear, a bright moon hangs on the canopy, Chu Huan sits on a mound, looking at the night sky from afar, thoughtful.

I don't know how long it took, but suddenly heard the sound of "rustling" trampling on the sand and gravel next to him, Chu Huan immediately clenched the handle of the blood drinking knife, turned his head to look, and said in a deep voice: "Who?" ”

But I heard a tactful voice say: "My lord, it's a little woman, you ...... Don't draw your sword, I'm afraid ......! Through the faint moonlight, Chu Huan saw clearly that the person who came was the unidentified Miss Liu.

Chu Huan's expression was still very cold, and asked, "It turned out to be Miss Liu, it's so late, not resting in the tent, is there anything wrong with coming here?" ”

Liu Meiniang sighed faintly: "Do adults have to be so cold when they speak? You...... Do you think the little girl is not a good person? There was a slight fear in her voice, and although she had a hat, it still gave people a sense of timidity.

Chu Huan said lightly: "The girl misunderstood, whether the girl is a good person or a bad person, Chu doesn't care, Chu just cares, since he is on the same road, everything must be done according to the rules, since Qiu Dangjia has let everyone rest, the girl should rest early, in the middle of the night, it's better not to walk around!" ”

Liu Meiniang smiled lightly and said, "It turns out that your surname is Chu!" Then he said: "Lord Chu, the little woman is not walking around, the little woman is coming, but ...... But there is one thing to ask for! ”

"Oh?" Chu Huan's face did not change, and said indifferently: "The girl should go to Qiu Dangjia if she has something, Chu is afraid that she will not be able to help the girl!" ”

He didn't know anything about Liu Meiniang's origins, so he naturally had to be more vigilant and didn't want to have too much contact with her.

Liu Meiniang said helplessly: "Lord Chu, why do you look like you are rejecting people thousands of miles away?" Little girl, look at you, you don't look like a ruthless person. ”

Chu Huan looked at Liu Meiniang's eyes and found that although this woman was wrapped in a woolen short jacket, her figure was slender and slightly plump, and the eyes under the black gauze seemed to be shining in the night, and she smiled indifferently and said, "How does the girl know that I am not a ruthless person?" What's the matter with me? ”

Liu Meiniang chuckled at this time: "Lord Chu, the little woman brought too few things this time, she forgot to bring cotton clothes, and only wore this short jacket on her body, and she couldn't feel it during the day, but at night...... The night is very cold, I don't know...... I don't know if Lord Chu's team has extra cotton clothes, the little woman wants to borrow one on the boat first. The beautiful eyes flowed, and without waiting for Chu Huan to reply, he said: "Buy one!" ”

Chu Huan shook his head and said: "Girl, everyone in the team only brought a padded jacket, and there was no extra padded jacket, I'm afraid I can't help it!" ”

Liu Meiniang sighed lightly, and after a gust of wind, her veil was blown and fluttered, and then she heard a small sneeze, which seemed to be really cold.

Chu Huan saw that she had turned around and seemed to be leaving, so he finally said, "You wait!" Although Chu Huan was not clear about Liu Meiniang's origins, he was wary, but after all, he couldn't be sure that the other party must be a bad person, a girl from someone came to ask for help, Chu Huan thought about it, this road is still long, if you can take care of it, you can't be too indifferent.

He really remembered that before the team set off from Beiyuan City, they were equipped with a batch of cotton clothes, and at that time, considering the long distance and other situations may occur, they really had a few extra cotton jackets.

He got up, asked Liu Meiniang to wait in place, and went to the camp by himself, trying to find a padded jacket.