Li Zaixing sat on the camel, his body slowly swaying as the camel advanced, looking for the most labor-saving rhythm. Changing to camels was Li Siye's suggestion, because camels can carry heavy loads, endure hard work, and are more suitable for long-distance travel than war horses.

The camel that Li Zaixing rode was a huge white camel, which was a gift from Li Siye to the junior brother as a senior brother. According to him, this is the trophy of the battle of Atami that participated in the battle with his husband Meng Lingjing, and it originally belonged to the Trough Shimoheda Khan, and it is a rare sacred object. Don't look at its usual unhurried walking, once it gallops, it is no less than an ordinary horse, comparable to the Telebis.

Li Zaixing readily agreed. Because the main opponent may be the Great Cannibal, and in addition to the Arabian horses, the camel is also one of their most important means of transportation, if you want to compete with the Great Eclipse, it is a good choice to use a lot of camels.

Du Fu and others also changed camels. Although the camel is good, but the smell is also big, Du Fu is not used to it, so he covers his nose with a handkerchief and shakes his head to compose poems to distract his attention. After a few days with Cen Shen, he had some inspiration to write Biansai poems and was preparing to write poems. is different from Li Baidou's thousands of poems, he writes poems like pregnancy, and it takes a long time to brew. Although the camel is slow, it is comfortable to sit on, and it is very suitable for swaying on the back of the camel.

Looking at Du Fu's half-asleep appearance, Li Zaixing thought about Li Siye's evaluation of Cen Shen, and couldn't help but laugh dumbly.

In Li Siye's view, Cen Shen is a scholar with low eyes, who can only talk rhetorically, but in fact, he doesn't understand anything. It's just that he doesn't understand, but he is always self-righteous, thinking that he is from a Jinshi and superior to others. From Li Siye's complaints, Li Zaixing heard some extraneous sounds, Cen Shen came to Anxi to gild, and he never planned to take root in Anxi. He came to Gao Xianzhi's shogunate in the hope of taking advantage of Gao Xianzhi's prestige, getting Gao Xianzhi's recommendation, and taking a shortcut to his career.

If a general like Gao Xianzhi recommends a person, usually the Son of Heaven will not refuse, and the relevant interpretation department will also give priority to the arrangement to show the respect of the border general. Therefore, even if these scholars don't look down on martial artists and don't like the life of the border pass, they will come to the border pass to endure it for a few years, and after getting the recommendation of the border general, they will fly away and return to the prosperous Central Plains.

Who can like such a person? Gao Xianzhi doesn't like such people either, and the reason why he treats Cen Shen politely is also helpless. The literati control the speech, Cen Shen is a high-ranking family, Gao Xianzhi is a Gaoli slave, and he does not dare to offend such a person.

But Cen Shen was not grateful for Gao Xianzhi's courtesy, on the contrary, he had a lot of complaints. In Li Siye's view, Cen Shen said that Gao Xianzhi was greedy, which was a great slander. Li Siye did not deny that Gao Xianzhi wanted to crusade against Shi Guo and seize wealth, but his starting point was different.

"Why did the soldiers of Zhongcheng's subordinates come to the border pass thousands of miles away, why did they sacrifice their lives and forget their deaths, and did they work hard? Of course, it is for meritorious service and reward. How much money can the imperial court reward? In the hands of each soldier, it was just a meal of wine. Zhongcheng wanted to motivate the soldiers to fight, not only to distribute all the spoils to his subordinates, but also to collect more money to reward the soldiers and boost morale. Attacking the stone country, seizing its wealth, weakening its strength, encouraging morale, killing two birds with one stone, benefiting the country and the people, how can it be said that Zhongcheng is greedy? ”

Li Siye waved his arms at that time, filled with righteous indignation. "If Zhongcheng is a greedy person, how can he respond to his requests? Did Cen Shen tell you how much he received from Zhongcheng when he first arrived in Qiuzi, and did the money fall from the sky? ”

Li Zaixing can't say that Li Siye is unreasonable, but he also feels the problem of the conscription system. The recruited soldiers are not government soldiers, fighting is just a profession, they fight bravely in order to obtain more money. It is of course good to have motivation, but once they encounter a powerful opponent, the war is deadlocked, there is no hope of seeking money, and they may die, it is difficult for them to hold their positions as tenaciously as the government soldiers, and they are very likely to collapse.

On the other hand, when the rewards of the imperial court are insufficient and the border generals can only find their own way, these soldiers will naturally be loyal to the generals, not the imperial court, and they will slowly become the generals' private soldiers, forming a centrifugal force on the imperial court.

This is not a good sign, and it may have originated from the secession of feudal towns in the late Tang Dynasty.

It can be seen that the crisis of the Tang Dynasty did not have to wait for the Anshi Rebellion to appear. Compared with this hidden danger, the civil and military ministers are far less urgent, at least there is not much crisis yet, with the support of the Son of Heaven, the power of the martial artists is still very strong.

Li Zaixing thought of a lot of problems, but he didn't have any solutions for a while, on the contrary, he felt more and more complicated, far more troublesome than assassinating Li Linfu. At this time, he often thought of Li Linfu's self-confidence and pride, and there was an inexplicable uneasiness in his heart.

When his brain hurts, Li Zaixing puts these problems aside and sets his eyes on the horizon in the distance. The road they took was the northern route of the Silk Road, the stretching desert to the south, and the towering Tianshan Mountains to the north, two completely different scenery, and they walked between the snow-capped mountains and the desert, as if walking on the edge of heaven and hell.

……

Shule is the last green state to the east of the Green Ridge, and to the west from Shule is the Green Ridge that separates the inside and outside. To the south, you can enter Tibet through Xiaobolu, or turn to the southwest, enter Tocharo, and reach Tianzhu. This road has many high mountains and deep valleys, difficult and dangerous, and inaccessible, but it is the only way for Tubo to enter and exit the river. After the Tang Dynasty captured Xiao Bolu, it stuck the throat of Tubo in the west. It is conceivable that the Tibetan people will definitely not give up, and a major war is inevitable. Gao Xianzhi asked Li Siye, a fierce general, to guard Shule, with good intentions.

Shule to the west, tracing the Chi River upstream, over the green mountains, can reach the thirsty city. The city of thirsty Sai is the original Xiuxun Prefecture, one of the cities governed by the Zhaowu Jiuhu Bahanna country. If Xiaobolu is the gateway of Tibet from Tibet, then the city of Qisai is the gateway of Tibet into Central Asia, and the importance of geographical location goes without saying.

The Tibetans, the Tang Dynasty and the Great Food all understand this. In the third year of Kaiyuan, Tubo and Dashi jointly marched into Bahanna, set up Alida as the king, and drove away the original king of Bahanna. The king of Bahanna ran to Anxi for help, and Zhang Xiaosong, who was the supervisor of Anxi at the time, led the Anxi army to attack thousands of miles, broke the city of Alida Yulian, slaughtered three cities, and won more than 1,000 levels.

This is the famous Battle of Bahanna, which was the first official contact between the Tang Dynasty and Dashi and Tubo, and ended in a complete victory for the Tang Dynasty.

Since then, Bahan, who was not very close to Datang, has become a die-hard supporter of Datang and has sent troops to help many times. Gai Jia attacked the Tuqi Shi, Gao Xianzhi broke the Xiao Bolu, and there were soldiers from Bahanna. In the third year of Tianbao, the Son of Heaven gave the surname of Bahana King Asilanda Gandou, changed Bahana to Ningyuan, and took the daughter of the clan as the princess of Heyi, and married King Ningyuan. The surname Dou is the surname of a foreign family, and this time it is also the only time that Datang and Zhuhu in Central Asia have made peace, which shows the importance that Datang attaches to Bahanna.

From Shule to Qisaicheng, it was originally the main road from Anxi to the Hezhong area, but after entering the Tang Dynasty, it was changed to the north road, and this road was not very passable. Li Siye was stationed in Shule, learned about this situation, and sent people to do some exploration, so he suggested that Li Zaixing take the old road of the Sui period and go straight to the city of Thirsty Sai. On the one hand, you can save a lot of distance, and on the other hand, you can also take the opportunity to walk this road yourself, which will be of great benefit to the future command of the troops.

Li Zaixing didn't know about this situation, so he was particularly interested and happily adopted Li Siye's suggestion.

The only question is whether Du Fu can accompany him. Li Zaixing and the others are all sturdy warriors, and even Al Maddy is also an agile warrior. Only Du Fu is a scholar, whether he can withstand the hardships of the trek, Li Zaixing is not sure. This is different from the previous road, which is to travel through the mountains and mountains, and the difficulty is beyond imagination.

"Brother Du, you have thought about it." Li Zaixing said to Du Fu sincerely: "This road must be very hard, I suggest you stay in Shule." ”

Du Fu was also a little hesitant, but in the end he decided to move on. As soon as he came, he felt that he had come here, and if he gave up halfway, the bitterness in front of him would be in vain. He may not have the opportunity to come to Anxi in the future, let alone the opportunity to go to the west of the Green Ridge, and it may be a lifelong regret not to take a look at it this time. Second, he felt that Li Siye did not have a good impression of literati and might not be able to get along harmoniously. Instead of suffering here, it is better to move forward with Li Zaixing.

Li Zaixing agreed, and after making full preparations, they embarked on the road to the west.

……

Gro Ridge.

Du Fu dragged two legs like lead, landed on the ground with both hands, climbed onto a boulder almost like crawling, turned over with difficulty, lay on his back on the boulder, snorting and panting, and couldn't care about his image at all.

The altitude here is about more than 6,000 meters, and the air is thin, even Li Zaixing feels a little dizzy, let alone Du Fu. To be honest, when he came here, Du Fu didn't ask anyone to carry it, and Li Zaixing was already very surprised.

Li Zaixing walked up to him and sat down, crossing his waist and gasping for breath.

"Brother Du, can you still do it?"

"Okay." Du Fu spat with difficulty: "But...... Let me ...... first. Gasping for a while, I couldn't walk anymore, and my heart was beating faster than a war drum...... It's also urgent. ”

"Now you know that mountain marching is not so easy, right?" Li Zaixing quipped: "After you go back, the poems you write can call yourself the poems of the mountains, and you are guaranteed to be more courageous than Mount Tai." ”

Du Fu smiled bitterly: "Don't make fun of me. I know that the title of the king of the mountains is not easy to come by, alas, when I used to sit in the study, I always felt that there was no difficulty that could not be overcome. Now that I have experienced it myself, I know that it is not easy. Anthy's soldiers......" He raised his wobbly arm and raised his thumb: "He is a real hero." ”

Li Zaixing was about to praise him a few words, when a crisp birdsong sounded in his ears. His expression tightened, and he looked up into the distance.

Al Maddy stood on a hillside in the distance and gestured to him.

Li Zaixing shouted: "Alert, there is an enemy!" ”