On May 13 of the first year of Guardian, Hedong Huoyi reported auspiciousness, and there were five-colored clouds on the side of the day.

On May 21 of the first year of Guardian, Lanzhou Jinghuguan reported to Xiangrui, the Han family palace appeared on the desert, and the golden young dragon soared in the clouds.

Now every time the auspicious report comes, it will not cause too many waves, but the officials and the people will inevitably discuss it in private; This situation is like a trickle seeping into the sand tower, and there is no obvious effect for a while, but after a long time, the water seeps more and more, and when the sand tower falls, everyone will not feel too abrupt.

On May 25, a group of more than 200 people returned from a business trip, and after crossing the southern foot of the majestic Qilian Mountain, looking at the lush Qingtang City, this group of business travelers was so excited that all knelt down and prostrated on the ground, some burst into tears, some cried bitterly, and their emotions could not be suppressed.

Great Song, hometown! We're back!

Ma Hanqing's originally handsome face was covered with beards, the Han family clothes on his body were mottled, and there were many tattered places, but he always insisted on not changing his beard, Qingtang City was in front of him, no! Now it should be called Xining Prefecture, Ma Hanqing's eyes were blood-red, and his teeth were clenched.

Li Xiangxian took off the black veil on his head, as if worshiping the god of light, worshipping the East devoutly, tears slipped down drop by drop, the long road was long, and the wild fox cried for thousands of miles. The end of the world is easy to grow old, and the waning moon is as cold as a knife. Where is the love, who knows that the lovesickness is full of roads...... When the two teams went to Xicheng, there were nearly 700 people in total, and now, only 223 people can come back, and two-thirds of them are buried in other places.

The place I passed was a world completely isolated from the Central Plains, with no hometown news, no familiar hometown sound, that kind of remoteness and estrangement, which made people feel like they had reached the end of the world.

Ma Hanqing took Yang Yi's instructions and traveled all the way west, from Yu Kunlun Mountain to the eastern foot of the Green Ridge, and then north over the snow-capped Tianshan Mountain, arriving at the Broken Leaf City in the Tang Dynasty. On the one hand, they fought bloody battles with bandits, horse thieves or tribal armies, while surveying and mapping the terrain, recording the situation of the people and the people, and inquiring about Li Xiangxian's whereabouts along the way.

When he arrived at the Eight Thorns Shagon, Ma Hanqing still didn't have any news about Li Xiangxian and them, so he had to turn south and return to Shule, but he unexpectedly met Li Xiangxian's team who had returned to the east.

Li Xiangxian was near Mulu City and accidentally saved Sanjar, the governor of Khorasan, but did not bring her more good luck; After Sanjar saw Li Xiangxian, he was shocked, and fell in love with Li Xiangxian at first sight, and wanted to make her the governor's wife, Li Xiangxian died to death, and Sanjar had no choice but to let them go back.

Li Xiangxian never found the scriptures of the God of Light, and all traces of Manichaeism in Khorasan were wiped cleaner and more thoroughly.

In desperation, she had no choice but to return eastward, so Sanjar sent a soldier to escort her all the way from Samarkand, the capital of the Peach Blossom Stone Khanate, to the east, through Kuba, over the Green Mountains, and to Shule.

The Peach Blossom Stone Khanate is a vassal state of the Seljuk Empire, but the Seljuk Empire and the Eastern Black Khanate are enemies, and the armor of Sanjar can only escort them to Kuba, and the rest of the journey of 10,000 miles can only rely on Li Xiangxian and dozens of them to go by themselves.

Fortunately, I met Ma Hanqing and others who returned south from Broken Leaf in Shule, so they had to return to the east together.

Ma Hanqing has the Great Song Dynasty on his body, but this is only useful for the Great Khan of the Black Khanate, the Eastern Black Khanate is now similar to the Zhou Dynasty in the Spring and Autumn Period, and the vassal states of each other are fighting with each other, and it is not necessarily that everyone sells the accounts of the Great Song Dynasty.

Therefore, even if you have a national certificate, you still have to go through a thousand hardships and dangers, not to mention the unpredictable tests such as quicksand, dust storms, avalanches, horse bandits, wolves, lack of water, hunger, etc.

At this moment, looking at the Han family's city, the homeland and the country, people who have not experienced these hardships and dangers can now understand why they are prostrate on the ground and cry bitterly!

On the third day of June, the Great Song Palace.

Ma Hanqing, who was in rags, held the letters of the Great Khan of the Black Khanate and the Governor of Khorasan of the Seljuk Empire, as well as the heavy atlas of the Western Regions soaked in the blood of hundreds of westward warriors, and walked step by step to the white marble gold steps of the Jinluan Palace.

The splendid palace of the Han family, the brightly dressed armor soldiers, set off his ragged clothes so shabby, Ma Hanqing has not yet entered the Jinluan Palace, his eyes are red again, blood red blood red!

The solemn and solemn palace, countless pairs of eyes fell on him, people saw the long wind and sand in the Western Regions from him, heard the foreign Jin Ge Iron Horse, people remembered a person, remembered the person who held the banner of the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and went to the Western Regions.

"Minister, Huanzhou patrol Ma Hanqing, knock to see Your Majesty, knock to see Empress Shaosheng."

Ma Hanqing held the two national letters and atlases in his hand high above his head, pushed the golden mountain, poured the jade pillar, and knelt on the Jinluan Palace, the hall was silent, Yang Yi looked at his ragged clothes, and his eyes were a little red.

It's been nearly a year, the sound is isolated, life and death are at a loss, and he even regretted sending Ma Hanqing and others to take such unpredictable dangers.

It's back! It's finally back! Perhaps, it is precisely because of such hot-blooded men who are not afraid of life and death and generously go to difficulties that they have the glory of generation after generation, and the torch has been passed on.

"Ma Qing, please get up! You hold the festival traffic in the Western Regions, not afraid of thousands of difficulties, draw a map of the mountains and rivers of the Western Regions, and have made great contributions to the court, Ma Qing listened to the order, and specially gave Huanzhou to inspect Ma Hanqing, the founding viscount, and the official was promoted to the governor of the Privy Council. ”

In later generations, maps can be found everywhere on the street, two yuan a copy, and buy one get one free, so everyone naturally does not think that maps are precious; But in ancient times, it was a different matter entirely, and the preciousness of the map was unimaginable to later generations; Due to the lack of surveying and mapping means, not to mention the maps outside the borders, even within one's own country, are extremely precious; Often, only those who are prosperous can mobilize a lot of manpower and material resources to paint a map of the country. When the picture is completed, it is often marked with the imperial map of a certain emperor and treasured in the palace.

Ma Hanqing not only brought back two national letters this time, but also brought back a detailed description of the geography of the mountains and rivers in the Western Regions, the situation of the people and the people, and the distribution of military strength, which is of great significance to the Great Song Dynasty, which has been isolated from the Western Regions for many years.

Dusk, Yang House.

On the wide table in the front hall, red silk mats, twenty Damascus knives were lined up, gold scabbards, beautifully decorated hilts, Yang Yi looked at it in a daze, picked up one of them, and gently stroked the blade of the knife as if touching the skin of a beauty.

"Boom!"

When the blade is pulled out, a string of clanging sounds are emitted, the whole knife is a little more than two feet long, bent like a crescent moon, and the horizontal veins on the knife body are in the shape of dozens of layers of cloud trapezoids, the light and shadow flow, wonderful and abnormal, and naturally exude the cold air of the forest.

Li Xiangxian folded a piece of silk into eight layers, handed it to Yang Yi with a smile, Yang Yi gently folded it on the edge of the knife, and then walked to the center of the hall, and with a wave of his arms, the silk folded on the edge of the knife was suddenly cut off.

"Bring our knives!" Yang Yi commanded.

Ma Hanqing pulled out an ordinary big knife, the two of them waved at the same time, the two knives collided, and the ordinary big knife was suddenly broken, Yang Yi looked at his knife edge, and there was basically no trace.

Such a treasure sword, if put on the market for sale, is worth a thousand gold.

"A good knife, and it really deserves its name. If our Great Song Dynasty fights against the Seljuks, I'm afraid we will suffer a big loss! ”

Li Xiangxian's eyes flowed, and he smiled and said: "My lord is too worried, in fact, the ordinary scimitars used by the Seljuk soldiers are not so sharp, and the production of Uzi steel is limited after all, so how can it be used to supply the soldiers of the whole country." ”

Li Xianji held Gong Wei's bun and changed into a narrow-sleeved purple shirt, wearing a water blue coat, and an eight-fold long skirt swaying, which was extremely moving.

Yang Yi looked at her and smiled: "That's why I'm worried!" Come, let's sit down and talk. ”

The maid at home boiled tea and sent it down, and the three of them chatted while drinking, and asked Yang Yi very carefully about the customs and customs of the Western Regions, and Ma Hanqing and Li Xianji answered him one by one.

In the end, Yang Yi said in a deep voice: "Han Qing, it is my intention to arrange you to join the Fang Pavilion, and I will then suggest that Empress Shao Sheng strengthen the functions of the Fang Pavilion, so that it can truly become a powerful intelligence department, send spies to the outside world, reprimand his ** government, and at the same time monitor the domestic military situation to prevent rebellion." As for recruitment! Except for some scouts selected in the army, you can figure out your own way for the others, third-rate nine sects, peddlers and pawns, all of which are not limited. ”

Ma Hanqing hugged his fists and replied: "Don't worry, my subordinates will not let my adults down." ”

Yang Yi nodded, turned to Li Xiangxian and said: "Xian'er, you'd better help, those people in your sect, try to arrange for Han Qing, the matter of the Bright God Sect, I'll find a way, I can give you an accurate word now, it won't take long to make you turn from dark to light, but you have to remember, you must not make any secret gangs, otherwise don't say that the court can't tolerate you, even I won't leave the slightest mercy." ”

Li Xianji cried with joy, she has gone through a lot of hardships, isn't this what she is looking for? Naturally, he was willing to stand up and worship with tears.

At this time, Thirteen Niang walked in with Ming'er, she held a small fan of Xiangluo in her hand, like a lady in the painting, and said with a smile on her face: "Official, the wine and food are ready, please invite Han Qing and them to the table." Sister Xian'er, you come with me, let's eat in the back hall. ”

The name Xiangxian can no longer be used in the future, as soon as she came back this time, she used back Li Xianji's original name, Thirteen Niang came to invite, she didn't dare to slack off, and hurriedly went up to give a gift; Thirteen Niang didn't wait for her to bow down, she stepped forward to help up, two beautiful people with a beautiful color and fragrance stood together, such as peony and peony complementing each other, beautiful, Yin Yin whispered, the two of them helped each other out of the hall.

Outside the hall door, Thirteen Niang glanced back at Yang Yi leisurely, and the look was ...... Yang Yi couldn't tell how much meaning was contained in that look, anyway, his heart and liver jumped suddenly, and he hurriedly turned his head away.

Alas! Looks like I'm still drunk tonight!

"Han Qing, go! Let's not get drunk tonight! ”

(To be continued)