In Li Jie's vision, the children of the family, the elite of the army formed a 100-person assault team, crossed the West Asian steppe and desert by land, arrived in Constantinople within two months, and with the help of Byzantium, he used the sophisticated equipment of the Tang army to break through Galatai Fort, rescue Princess Anna, and then find a way to put her on the throne. [Mobile phone, tablet to read novels, please visit m. directly, update faster, more data-saving]

But in practice, Li Jie's idea is indeed a bit taken for granted, even Li Que, who is a hardcore member of the Fujian Palace, has to admit that the Fujian State knows too little about the plateau and the desert, the sophisticated forbidden army can't deal with the wind and sandstorm, the smart children of the family can no longer find hard-won water and food in the open wilderness, and even the elite of the Punjab army has not crossed the entire Khorasan.

Under the leadership of Li Jie, the footprints of the Tang people did go farther than before, but at this time, most of them stopped at the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf, and the bulk goods of the Tang people generally went to the Persian Gulf by sea, and then transported by land to Baghdad, the emerging center of the Arab Empire, and the farthest was to reach Mecca, Yemen, or the end of the Red Sea by land to Damascus and Jerusalem.

The Suez Canal has been abandoned for hundreds of years from the Middle Ages of Egypt, and the huge body of the mainland and the Arab Empire has blocked the progress of the Tang people, isolating the Tang Dynasty from Rome.

Therefore, Hou Jie, Li Que's itinerary is unprecedented in Chinese history.

Now, Li Que is more and more understanding of Hou Jie's correctness in choosing people, although she still doesn't understand why Hou Jie has to bring a few wastes, such as now.

"Water, I want water, I'll buy as much as I want, give me water!"

The wind and sand came widely, he was really sweating and panting like a dog, and the silk white robe wrapped around Wu Yuanqing's body was wet, covering a large piece of slimy on his body, dragging his tongue and dangling - in the shadow under the camel umbrella, he stretched out his hand to the rest of the expedition team members who were also trekking in the desert.

In this regard, Li Que turned his head helplessly, and Hou Jie was very impatient to lead the camel back, and yelled at Wu Yuanqing with some reproach: "Brother Wu, don't come out of the city, how many times have you drunk water?" There is still more than a day to go before the next town, and the rest of the water is what everyone depends on for the whole team, and we can't drink it anymore today! ”

A few days ago, it was okay, after all, it was relatively close to Xinhan Valley, especially half a year ago in the battle of Tulan Zaming, the Tang army slaughtered more than 30 tribes nearby, and did not dare to be disrespectful to the Fujian State within a few hundred miles, but the further west you go, the deeper you go into the Iranian plateau, the more barren the land becomes, and the real suffering under the sparse population has just begun.

In fact, Hou Jie and others can also choose to take the coast of the Persian Gulf, which is actually the most common road taken by land caravans, but unfortunately, there, the Arab Empire is also strong, and layers of checkpoints have been set up.

"No, if there is no water, I will die of thirst, and before the princess is tied, she will go to see the emperor first." Lying on the camel, Wu Yuanqing was playing tricks.

Listening to this guy's chirping voice, Li Quezhi frowned, and couldn't help but turn around the camel and turn around, and arched his hand to persuade: "Zhonghu Army, since Uncle Wu Guo is unwilling to move forward anymore, it is better to divide a few people to protect Lord Wu and go back to the city, and enter the customs from there, why be reluctant?" ”

Wu Yuanqing really showed a hesitant look, he hadn't tied up a meat ticket with Hou Zhuo before, but it was the first time that he had been so bitter now, so he couldn't help but retreat.

Just when Li Que was rejoicing, he didn't want Hou Jie to hook up Wu Yuanqing's wet fat head and whispered quietly.

"Brother Wu, you, Captain Li, are the people of King Min, she is never willing to have more complications outside of the mission, if you are not there, without the face of Princess Wu, the princess will definitely not be able to take it away."

Seeing that Wu Yuanqing was entangled again, Hou Jie hurriedly added fire.

"Brother Wu, this time she is a real princess of a big country, and the daughter of the previous chief and small country lord must not be the same, think about it, the entire Jingshi, the huge third street, there is a real princess in your Red Mansion Fang, then brother, you should have more face!"

It's really a line of love, Wu Yuanqing has been this merry sect leader for a long time, and he really has an obsession, glaring at Li Que with defense, staggering on the camel, and actually embarked on the journey again.

Li Que, who watched this scene, couldn't help but shake her head helplessly, she really couldn't understand, why did Hou Jie have to take this waste? You know, she was dragged down by this guy once before.

It's a pity that it was Hou Jie who was in charge, and under his order, a team of more than 30 people set foot on the journey again, dangling under the camels, and Li Que, who was also able to sweat profusely, no longer had the heart to think about it, and devoted himself to this cruel game of nature.

The shadows of dozens of camels dragged far away in the desolate Gobi Desert.

"It should be just ahead!"

Holding the map, a 20-year-old Tocharian young man riding a camel is constantly galloping in front of the team, this kid is called Hulk, don't look at his youth, he was sixteen years old and carried a knife in the desert to be a mercenary guy, from here to Central Asia has run a few back and forth, especially in the past two years, it has also experienced great changes in West Asia, and it is a talent among talents.

He was a priceless person, including the map in his hand.

"If you walk another mile or so, you should be able to reach Hulantu Town, everyone work hard!"

The young man was always sunny, and as soon as he heard that there was a town where humans gathered in front of him, even Li Que was a little more positive, not to mention Wu Yuanqing, who had been about to be dried out for more than two days, urging the same tired camel, and the Min team accelerated a little.

After a few more minutes, just before the sun set, a piece of human architecture was exposed under the undulating low hills.

I have to admire the tenacity of human beings, under such harsh natural conditions, there are still human figures stopping, seeing the dilapidated and dilapidated town that is worse than the mud houses of Jingshi, Wu Yuanqing is closer than seeing Chang'an, jumping off the camel and running straight to the town with joy regardless of fatigue.

Pastor Paul was originally a Syrian, but he came to Xinhan Valley by boat in the Persian Gulf, and he did such a job of swaggering and deceiving on weekdays, and he had endured such hardships there, and his four apprentices were local Hindustani people from Khorasan close to Tianzhu, who followed Paul as a nurse, and deceived the Heavenly Father's manifestation in the nearby villages to cure all diseases, fooling a large group of believers and always receiving enough food from Master Paul.

These days, even if there are camels on their way, they are almost not thirsty to death, and they are smoky from the sun.

Seeing these waste children in their eyes screaming happily towards the small village and town in front of them, even Li Que couldn't help but pull the reins of the camel and rushed forward a few steps, but before she could overtake the team, suddenly a black crutch stretched out from another camel and stopped in front of Li Que.

It was the old man who was invited out of the slum of Xinhan Valley that day, and Hou Jie was extremely solemn and respectful.

What is his name, Li Que still doesn't know, Hou Jie just calls him a blind old man, a withered old Tang man, wearing a tattered sheepskin jacket, a messy beard and gray hair, and a large black wrinkle on his hands and face is like the folded sand dunes on the Iranian plateau.

What's more, the blind old man's eyes are completely white, and as the name suggests, he is blind!

"Why don't you let me pass?" was also thirsty and smoking, Li Que was really a little annoyed, and turned his head in an uneven tone to ask, but the old man's vicissitudes of life were still as unchanged as a dry desert.

"It's a dead city, no one!"

As soon as the old man's words fell, the six guys who had just run in excitedly ran back at the same speed, and one by one they were shouting as if they had lost their souls, especially Wu Yuanqing seemed to be carrying something, and his cry was extremely loud.

"God, believers have met the devil!"

"Help, little monkey, the ghost caught me!!"

A pig gnawed and plunged into the sand, Wu Yuanqing's stubby limbs were still fluttering, but Li Que jumped off the camel with a solemn face, and reached out to carry the thing lying behind Wu Yuanqing.

A dried corpse!

In a small town, there are dried corpses everywhere, and the harsh climate and air-dried meat generally do not dry them all, the dried flies do not crawl, and the small town is also a mess, with half-burned houses and overturned jars and utensils.

It was clearly looted by sand pirates.

"Damn! Damn it! Damn it!!! Hulk and a few other old mercenaries scolded and threw things straight, they were used to seeing death, not because they were not angry about the people who were killed, but in front of them, the only well in this town, when it was opened, it was full of yellow sand!

In the end, it is a man who is used to wandering in the desert, and the rest of the twenty or so mercenaries are silently rummaging in this dead town, the unburned cow and sheep dung, and animal remains are piled up into a fire, beating up a raging fire, you must know that the plateau desert is two extremes during the day and at night, and the temperature at night will even drop below freezing.

Standing at the head of the town, looking at the map in his hand by the firelight, Hou Jie's brows under the big white turban couldn't help but wrinkle into Sichuan characters, behind him, several camels carried by large water bladders have been deflated, and the map marked in his hand, in front of him for half a day, is a white flower area.

The Kavir Salt Desert, even more dangerous than the barren Iranian plateau, is a real area of death!

Starting from Tianzhu, Hou Jie and others walked for half a month, and they had walked through most of Khorasan, and the footprints of the Tang people had not penetrated into such an area, but now, there was no water, no food, and it seemed that it was difficult to move an inch, gritting his teeth, Hou Jie suddenly grabbed the map and stuffed it back into his pocket.

"Zhonghujun, what's wrong?"

A soft voice suddenly sounded behind him.