As early as a month ago, Zhang Huangyan had received the task, and in the past month, he has followed the instructions of the military doctor to drink water soaked in rhodiola every day.

According to military doctors, Rhodiola is a very useful Tibetan medicine, especially to prevent adverse reactions when entering Qinghai-Tibet.

From Xining to Qinghai Lake, and then all the way to the southwest, until the source of the Yellow River near Chalinghai and Erlinghai, here has reached the foot of Kunlun Mountain.

It took several days along the way, and to Zhang Huangyan's surprise, they really didn't have any altitude sickness. Before they came, they had heard in Xining that many soldiers who had entered Qinghai-Tibet in advance had reported that after entering Qinghai-Tibet, they always had headaches, difficulty breathing, tiredness, and even insomnia and loss of appetite.

A strong soldier who is usually as strong as an ox, but when he enters Qinghai-Tibet, he seems to be seriously ill.

But Zhang Huangyan has come all the way, but this has not happened.

"It seems that the rhodiola soaked water that Old Man Zhang said really works." Zhang Huangyan was a little grateful to Old Man Zhang, when he let everyone drink Rhodiola rosea soaked water for a month, everyone was very unhappy, thinking that thing was unpalatable.

A group of subordinates did not believe in the efficacy of soaking in rhodiola rosea, but thought that those words such as pain and difficulty breathing were all lies of those soldiers who entered Tibet in the early stage.

They admired the blue sky of the grassland in the sunshine.

The winter in Qinghai is long and cold.

Just as everyone was in a good mood to look at the golden sunshine, suddenly a dark cloud floated overhead, and then countless ice and rain drops as big as soybeans suddenly fell, smashing a group of people in a hurry, rummaging through the tent in embarrassment.

"No matter how you say it on this day, it will change!"

Everyone finally set up the tent, but most of the clothes were already wet, but fortunately they all brought a change of clothes, and everyone changed out of their wet coats.

"Is that mountain Kunlun Mountain? Where does the Queen Mother of the West live? ”

Kunlun Mountain is a large mountain range that runs between east and west in Qinghai Province, newly established in Qinghai Province. Qinghai Province is bordered by the Qilian Mountains to the north, the Tanggula Mountains to the south, and Kunlun to the center.

However, at this time, everyone did not think that Kunlun would be the sacred mountain of the Queen Mother of the West, because this is an ordinary mountain, full of desolate taste.

"I don't know if it's the Kunlun Mountain of the Queen Mother of the West, but I know that the lake not far ahead is the source of the Yellow River."

"Isn't the source of the Yellow River in Shaanxi?" A corporal asked unexpectedly, in his impression, the Yellow River was rolling yellow sand, and the rivers they had seen along the way were all clear and visible. It's hard to believe. Such clear water would actually be the source of the Yellow River.

Zhang Huangyan said a little pretentiously, "The Yellow River originates in Qinghai, and even the Yangtze River originates in Qinghai." However, the source of the Yangtze River is in the south of the Kunlun Mountains, and its source is called the Wantong River, and the Yellow River is not far from the west of us after the source under the mountain, through the Xingzhuhai and the Peacock River in front, first into the Chaling River, and then after some roundabouts and outflows, and finally divided into nine strands in this vicinity. After passing through a number of small rivers nearby, they dispersed and flowed into the Erling Sea. ”

"Charinghai means white long lake, and Elinghai means blue long lake. These two lakes are also known as the twin lakes at the source of the Yellow River! ”

"Wow, sir. Do you also know that you have been here before? ”

"Of course not." Zhang Huang said that in fact, he only collected these messages after he received the mission to enter Qinghai-Tibet a month ago. These two lakes are known as sister lakes. It is also the source of the Yellow River.

Everyone took shelter from the rain in their tents for a while, but the weather got worse and worse.

Heavy rain fell for a while, slowly turning into light snow. The sky was chaotic, and the heavens and the earth were no longer clear.

After a while, the temperature began to drop rapidly, and the light snow gradually turned into heavy snow again, and as far as the eye could see, it was vast and completely unrecognizable.

It was the first time since we set off from Xining that we had encountered this kind of bad weather.

For a moment, everyone was trapped in this grassland.

"The climate in the source of the Yellow River is changeable, and there are four seasons in one day!" At this time, Zhang Huangyan remembered an intelligence material he had read in Xining, and he didn't believe it at the time, how could this be possible in one day and four seasons, but now he really experienced it himself.

I hid in the tent for most of the day, and finally waited for the rain and snow to stop.

The dark clouds have removed, the rain and snow have stopped, the sky is transparent and beautiful, and the white clouds float overhead, as if they can be plucked by their hands.

The golden sunlight is shining one by one, and the slightest trace is recognizable.

Everyone got out of the tent, looked at the blue sky and white clouds and golden sunshine, and couldn't help but open their mouths wide.

The crowd gathered their tents, packed them and put them on their horses, mounted them and continued on their way. After walking for a while, a large lake suddenly appeared in front of me.

It was not an ordinary lake, in the sun, it was more like the Yao Pond of a heavenly palace.

The blue surface of the lake rises with white balls, and little by little it merges with the white clouds in the sky, and the sky and the lake seem to merge into one, and the clouds and fog become one.

Many birds flew between the clouds and the mist, cruising in the mist of the sky or the lake.

Zhang Huangyan is going to the Chara Pass on the south of Lianghu Lake, which is the east entrance of the Kunlun Mountains, and in the west, there is also the West Pass, also called the Kunlun Pass. The location of the Chara Pass is very important, the Kunlun Mountains divide Qinghai into north and south, the Chara Pass is an important pass at the north and south ends of the eastern part of Qinghai, and it is also close to Xikang Province, which is also an important passage to Xikang.

The imperial court set up Lianghu County near the two lakes, and set up a fort in the Chara Pass, because not long ago the officers stationed in the mountain pass could not adapt to the climate of the plateau, so the general army of Qinghai Town transferred the standard commander Zhang Huangyan to take over.

Zhang Huangyan took out the map and looked at it for a while, estimated the distance from Shuanghu County, and estimated that he would not be able to arrive before dark.

"Let's look ahead to see if there are any herdsmen, and let's go and borrow them for the night."

Zhang Huangyan went to the Chara Pass to take over, but he only brought a guard platoon with him. For the sake of safety and to be able to better understand the situation in Qinghai, he disguised his group as a Han caravan, hid his identity, concealed weapons, and carried a lot of goods.

But although Shuanghu County has been established here, it looks like a no-man's land.

They rode their horses through the vast grasslands, and the most they saw were gophers, then wild asses.

You can't see people at all, and you can't see a tree.

In the Central Plains, even in the most remote mountainous areas, one or two miles away, there will always be a mountain village. No matter how small the mountain village is, you can still see people on the road.

But here, walking for a day, walking hundreds of miles, you can't even see a single figure.

"I heard that there are only more than 3,000 herdsmen in Shuanghu County, but I didn't believe it at first, but now I really believe it." Zhang Huangyan was a little depressed, he was obviously unprepared. Fortunately, he is not a real trader, otherwise he would have come here with a team of men to sell goods, which would not have to be a loss, and he would not even be able to see who the goods were sold to.

With a population of 3,000 in a county, it is hard to believe that there are so many people in the slightly larger villages of the Central Plains. Any township has more than this population.

But in this vast county of hundreds of miles, the total population is only more than 3,000, and now he has been walking for a day, and he has not even seen a ghost.

It was already dark, and just as Zhang Huangyan was about to set up a tent to stay on the spot, suddenly a bell rang in the distance.

Zhang Huangyan hurriedly took out his binoculars to look for it, and then found a team, a large flock of sheep appeared first, then several long and stout sheepdogs, and finally a group of yaks with bells followed, and then he finally saw a person.

A herdsman rides a horse to drive his cattle and sheep home.

Zhang Huangyan hurriedly put away the clairvoyant mirror, he asked the guards to stay where they were, and went over alone.

The herdsman was a little surprised when he suddenly noticed a group of people here, and when he saw that he was the only one passing, he also rode over.

"I am a merchant, a Han merchant who sells goods." Zhang Huangyan has been working hard to learn Tibetan recently, and he is quite fluent in Tibetan at this time.

The herdsmen on the opposite side relaxed their guard when they heard the familiar Tibetan language.

"Ah, it turned out to be a caravan selling goods, we haven't seen a caravan here for a long time, are you from the city over there?" Half a year ago, the Han Dynasty army from the east arrived, and fought with the Mongolian cavalry from the west, driving the Mongolian cavalry away, and then those Han people built a garrison under the mountain by the Xingxing Lake. In addition to the garrison, there were also several shops in the city.

The shops buy the herdsmen's skins and cheese, and sell swords, iron pots, wooden bowls, tea, wine, and salt to the herdsmen. Because the price was fair, the herdsman also went into the city with his companions to trade goods.

He had a good impression of the Han merchants and Han troops in the city, unlike the Mongol cavalry, who imposed taxes on them after they arrived.

"It's so late, why don't you go to my tent and rest for the night." Tashi, a herdsman, warmly invited.

Zhang Huangyan, of course, couldn't ask for it, so he went back and called his guards, and everyone rode horses, led yaks, and pulled goods, and followed Tashi to drive the cattle and sheep to his tent.

Zhang Huangyan took the initiative to chat with him, and through chatting, he was still more than a day's way away from the county seat, and Tashi lived by the lake.

During the day, he grazes his cattle far away from the tents, and the herders choose to set up their tents near the water source and leeward, while the herders usually have to go far away.

In addition to his tent, there are about 20 tents on the lakeside, each tent is dozens of feet away from each other, not too close, but still able to stand by the tent and shout for the next door to hear.

Tashi drove the cattle and sheep back to the tent, and then took Zhang Huangyan and others back to the tent by the lake.

His wife, Baima, was already waiting for her husband to return, and several children and the elderly of the family were also standing on the edge of the tent. His wife had already cooked milk tea with dried cow dung and made tsampa, their usual staple food. (To be continued.) )