The ancient Silk Road winds and stretches into the distance. On the Silk Road, there is a large army advancing, this is the Tang Army under the leadership of Li Changguo, marching along the Silk Road to the Western Regions.

"Rumble!"

The sound of thunderous hooves shook the ground and splashed large clouds of smoke and dust, like a dark cloud hanging down the ground.

"This is the Silk Road, and we march on the Silk Road."

The soldiers were very excited, and there were many discussions along the way.

The Silk Road has existed for a very long time, generally from the Han Dynasty's Zhang Qian's passage to the Western Regions and the opening of the Silk Road. However, the real opening time cannot be accurately estimated, because Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Zhang Qian to the Western Regions in order to form an alliance with the Yue Clan and jointly deal with the Xiongnu. And Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty got the news that the Yue clan was a big country and had a mortal enmity with the Xiongnu through merchants, that is, the Central Plains had trade relations with the Western Regions before that.

Since Zhang Qian's passage to the Western Regions, the Han Dynasty opened up the Hexi Corridor, which made the Central Plains border the Western Regions, and trade was more developed, which promoted the prosperity of the Silk Road.

Since then, for thousands of years, the Silk Road has been a golden trade route between the Central Plains and the West, and the silk, tea and spices of the Central Plains have been exported to the West through the Silk Road.

The West is a general reference, referring to the regions and countries west of the Western Regions, there were many countries at that time, the goods of the Central Plains were sold as far as Europe, and the goods of China were the treasures pursued by the nobles of the Roman Empire.

Therefore, the Silk Road is famous, as long as it is a Chinese person, they have heard of its name, it can be said that women and children know it.

The soldiers don't know how many times they have heard of the great names of the Silk Road, and now, marching on the Silk Road, this makes the soldiers particularly surprised, and there are many discussions.

"Look, bones!"

"It's human bones, so many human bones."

"This skeleton should be a horse bone."

"Look at this skeleton, it's not a horse bone, it should be a camel bone."

Along the way, corpse bones will be found from time to time, human bones, horse bones, and camel bones will be found from time to time, which makes the soldiers quite curious and exclamations from time to time.

"I have heard the name of the Silk Road for a long time, but I didn't expect that there would be so many bones. Almost every three or five miles will find piles of two, or even more bones. ”

"You are lonely and unheard, who doesn't know, the Silk Road is made of bones. Listening to those caravans who have been on the Silk Road for a long time, walking on the Silk Road, you don't need a guide, you just need to follow the bones, you can't be wrong. ”

"You're blowing too much, how can there be such a thing."

"To say that you are lonely is to look down on you, and you are simply ignorant. You don't want to think about how many years the Silk Road has existed? It's been more than a thousand years. For many years, caravans walked on silk every year. The caravan was not one or two teams, but hundreds or thousands, and if one did not pay attention, he would get lost when he encountered the wind and sand, and he would be buried, and there would be many casualties. How many deaths and injuries will there be in a thousand years? A thousand years. The Silk Road was made of bones! ”

This soldier is right, the Silk Road is made of bones.

Starting from the Central Plains, leaving the land of the river, we embarked on the Silk Road. The ancient Silk Road is very different from the modern one, and the modern Silk Road is a long stretch of yellow sand, thousands of miles of yellow sand, and windy sand. On the ancient Silk Road, it was not the yellow sand like modern times, although there were oases and water sources from time to time, but there were also yellow sand and strong winds. Once encountered, there are still many bad luck, and there are not a few casualties. Otherwise, the ancients would not have regarded the Silk Road as a bitter cold road.

What's worse is that the temperature in ancient times was very low, and the temperature difference on the Silk Road was very large, which created a huge dilemma for the caravanserais, making the caravans more killed and wounded.

"Brethren, you are right, the Silk Road was made of bones, of the bones of our ancestors." Li Changguo rode on a war horse, listened to the discussion of the soldiers, spoke out at the right time, inspired the morale of the army, and said: "Our ancestors had great perseverance and perseverance, and the Silk Road was so bitter and cold, but it could not stop them from advancing. They transported silk, tea, and spices from the Central Plains to the West, and then transported pearls, hawksbill turtles, corals, and precious stones from the West to the Central Plains through the Silk Road under our feet. Even if there are so many hardships and hardships, they can overcome them, so why can't we? ”

"Yes!" There was only one word, but it was earth-shattering, and the soldiers puffed up their chests and held their heads high, extremely proud.

The glorious deeds of our ancestors are the best example of boosting the morale of the military. Just as Li Changguo said, our ancestors overcame great difficulties to transport goods from the Central Plains to the West, and then met the goods from the West back to the Central Plains.

"Do you know where our Zuzan has gone?" Li Changguo's eyes shone brightly, and he asked loudly.

"Dashuai, where did our ancestors go?"

Although the soldiers knew the great names of the Silk Road, and although they knew that our ancestors traded through silk and traveled far to the west, they only knew that they entered the Western Regions, but they did not know where they had been.

Li Changguo's question made them particularly curious, and they all opened their eyes wide, pricked up their ears, and concentrated on it, for fear of missing a detail.

"I tell you that our ancestors' footsteps reached 20,000 miles away, do you believe it?" Li Changguo asked loudly.

"Twenty thousand miles?" The soldiers erupted in exclamation, their eyes wide open, their mouths wide open, their faces in disbelief and surprise.

Thousands of miles away, generally our exaggeration, can really have 10,000 miles, how far away is that. 20,000 miles is enough for the ancients to think about it for a while, and it is not enough to keep the soldiers from being shocked.

"I said less." Li Changguo nodded heavily and affirmed loudly.

"Really?" The strange gurgling sound in the throats of many soldiers was even more unbelievable.

20,000 miles is shocking enough, but it's still a little bit less, isn't the real distance far more than 20,000 miles? That's too big a number, too much to be true.

"That's right." Li Changguo wrenched his fingers and began to explain to the soldiers: "From the land of the river, we have embarked on the Silk Road, and to the west is the Western Regions. The Western Regions, you have heard it countless times, do you know how big the Western Regions are? ”

"I don't know." The soldiers had heard the term Western Regions countless times, but they didn't know how big the Western Regions were.

In fact, in Chinese history, the term Western Regions itself is a general reference, with no exact scope, and generally refers to the area west of Yumen Pass. During the Han Dynasty, the Western Regions were mainly the current Xinjiang Province. In the Tang Dynasty, because after the Tang Dynasty solved the Turks in the north and Goryeo in the northeast, there were no opponents, so they vigorously pursued the Western Regions. Especially in the era of Li Longji, it was the golden age of the Tang Dynasty to fully develop the Western Regions, and it was also the golden age of the Western Regions in Chinese history.

At that time, the Western Regions not only referred to the current Xinjiang Province, but also included Central Asia, that is, modern Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan were the territories of the Tang Dynasty.

As for how much influence the Tang Dynasty had in Central Asia, a very simple way is to look at the characteristics of how many Chinese people in Central Asia. You only need to see on TV how much difference between the looks of those people in Central Asia and the Chinese?

All the places where Central Asians who look like Chinese are the places where our ancestors influenced, not all, but also most of the territories that belonged to China during the Tang Dynasty.

"The Western Regions are very large, and Shiguo and Anguo are all territories of the Tang Dynasty, which are thousands of miles away." Li Changguo explained to the soldiers, saying: "Further west are Talas and Samarkand, which are rich lands, and there are tens of thousands of miles here. ”

"That's 20,000 miles." The soldiers were busy counting for Li Changguo.

"This is just to get to Persia." Li Changguo's words were very shocking.

"This is to Persia?" The soldiers erupted in exclamation.

For Persia, the Tang people are definitely no strangers. Because during the period of Tang Taizong, the Arab Empire marched eastward and attacked the Persian Empire, and the Persian Empire could not resist it, so it sent people to Chang'an to ask Tang Taizong to ask for reinforcements from the Tang Dynasty. After listening to the minister's opinion, Tang Taizong thought twice and finally refused to send troops.

The Tang Dynasty did not send troops, and the Persian Empire lost its last hope and was finally destroyed by the Arab Empire. Before his demise, Balus, the last crown prince of the Persian Empire, led members of the royal family, a large number of followers, and refugees, and retreated eastward with the help of the Tang Dynasty. In the end, this group of people withdrew to the Western Regions and settled down, and Balus himself came to Chang'an, settled in Chang'an, and the Tang Dynasty made him a big official.

Since then, the Tang Dynasty and the Arab Empire have officially become enemies, and a century-long confrontation has begun.

This matter is familiar to the Tang people, and everyone knows it.

"Persia is thousands of miles further east." Lee Chang-guk spoke surprisingly again.

"Ten thousand miles away?" The soldiers' eyes widened: "Isn't this 30,000 miles?" ”

"There are no 30,000 miles, except for miscalculations and exaggerations, almost 20,000 miles." Li Changguo calculated very carefully.

"To the west of Persia is the earliest territory of the Great Eclipse. The Great Food started from here, fought for a hundred years, and destroyed dozens of countries before today's Great Food. Li Changguo once again threw a bombshell: "To the west of the Great Eclipse, there is an ocean called Tiaozhihai. ”

Tiaozhihai is now the Mediterranean, the name of the Tang people.

"Tiaozhihai?" Tiaozhihai still knows a lot for the Tang people, and the soldiers are exclaiming.

"In the Han Dynasty, a great empire was established around the Tiaozhi Sea, called Great Qin." Li Changguo has another surprising remark.

"Daqin is a country that revolves around the Tiaozhi Sea?" Once again, the soldiers were shocked.

Great Qin, that is, the Roman Empire, is the name of ancient China.

"Our ancestors have arrived in Great Qin, oh my God!" Although there are many people in Daqin, not many people know where it is, so the soldiers are particularly surprised.

"Dashuai, is the Great Qin Kingdom very big?" The name of the Roman Empire was introduced to China as early as the Han Dynasty, and the soldiers were very curious.

"The Great Qin Kingdom has long since perished." Li Changguo was unimpressed.

The Roman Empire has been dead for hundreds of years, and now it is the Eastern Roman Empire, that is, Byzantium inherited the Roman Empire, but its strength is too far from the Roman Empire.

"Western Regions! Western regions! We're in the Western Regions! Suddenly, the soldiers erupted in a shocking cheer.

(To be continued)