Originally, Li You thought that herding sheep was a very simple and easy thing, but in fact it was not. The two of them whipped the sheep and walked along a not very obvious road towards the east.

While walking, the old man probably introduced him to the basic information of Shanshanguo. This is a small country in the Western Regions, founded on the edge of Shiozawa, with a castle, but "the soldiers are weak and easy to go".

Due to the harsh environment, there are basically no fields. But it is rich in jade, donkeys, horses, camels, and the basis of the country's wealth is to occupy transportation fortresses, as well as trade goods with other countries, and finally, like the old man, through animal husbandry.

It wasn't until the sun was about to rise in the middle of the sky that the two saw an oasis, which was what the old man called the land of salt. Li You saw a touch of green in the yellow sand, and ran over with a little excitement. In this small oasis, Li You felt a burst of moisture blowing towards his face.

"Old man! There is water to drink. Li You didn't hear the old man in the distance shouting anything, and hurriedly picked up a handful of water in his hand and put it in his mouth.

"Phew, how is this water bitter?" As soon as a mouthful of water was about to enter his throat, he spit it out. The old man who was driving the sheep came to him with a smile and said:

"I just shouted, this is salt water and can't be drunk." As he spoke, the old man handed the water bag on his waist to Li You and continued: "Hey, the ancestors once said that at the beginning of this salt ze, there were dense trees and plants, and it was called the holy ze, but now it is difficult to be famous. ”

After the old man finished speaking, he knelt down in front of a crooked tree. Li You drank two sips of water, returned the water bag to the old man, looked into his eyes and said, "My name is Li You, I don't know what the old man's surname is?" ”

"If your surname is Zhang, just call me Zhang Laohan. Don't look at the difference between my appearance and yours, but I can be regarded as most of the Han people. When the Han Dynasty sent an envoy to our country, I was only 13 years old at that time. Because of curiosity, when they left, they secretly hid in the horse team and went to Chang'an City. ”

Li You listened to Zhang Laohan's words with great interest, and his eyes looked at a few sheep that were feasting from time to time. Occasionally, a gust of wind blew over the sand, and the confused Li You couldn't open his eyes.

The old man said that after he went to Chang'an City, he stayed for more than 40 years, and when he returned to Shanshanguo again, he almost forgot his native language.

"Chang'an City?"

"Yes, before I arrived at Chang'an City, a prosperous place, on the way, a servant of the horse team found me, and saw that I was extremely intelligent, and he had no heirs under his knees, so he accepted me as his son."

It turned out that the old man was recognized by a junior officer in the horse team, no wonder he spoke Chinese so well. When Li You and the old man saw that the sun was shining on them again, they moved to another shady place and continued to talk.

The old man began to read and write in this official's mansion, and his living habits were also sinicized, and then he married a main room. Unexpectedly, a highly contagious typhoid fever took the lives of several people in the house, and his wife and godfather were also among them.

The family fell on the way, and it was supposed to be the old man who inherited his godfather's position, but because he was from the Western Regions, he was snubbed by the imperial court. As a result, he was transferred back to the Western Regions and became a petty official under the Metropolitan Protectorate.

With great ambitions but nowhere to show them, the old man resigned and returned to Shanshanguo, thinking that he would spend his life as a shepherd.

As the old man spoke, two lines of incomparably clear tears appeared on his face. Although Li You can't understand why ancient people were so paranoid about their ideals and ambitions, he may be on par with his feelings when he thought of when he was a waiter in a restaurant and wanted to apply for a manager's position, but was ridiculed.

The two of them were taking advantage of the cold under the poplar, and Li You had to ask him if he remembered anything, and the old man also said everything.

"Zhang Laohan, I don't understand the queen's lustful character now, can you tell me about it?" Li You, who has been in this ancient desert city for a long time, has never been able to forget this incident.

After listening to this, the old man looked around, and after seeing that there were only a few wild deer grazing, he said with confidence that the queens of this past generation were all selected by the queen from among her own children. The previous queen was kind to the people, extremely intelligent, and managed the country in an orderly manner.

But she only won't choose a successor, and since the queen of this generation ascended to the throne of the king, she has implemented countless harsh policies, making the people miserable.

In addition, the weather was dry and the water in the city was cut off many times, so the queen had to send a large number of people to change the river and bring water into the city. Among them, there are not a few people who died under the scorching sun.

But these are just internal worries, Shanshan Country is a traffic fortress, and the queen relies on her own advantages in the terrain to embarrass the Han people everywhere. On the other hand, the Xiongnu army also often came to attack. The queen of the grass on the wall, who is indecisive, is also the main reason for the decline of the country's strength.

The old man looked up at the rare vulture in the sky, and said with a heavy heart: "I believe that it will not be long before the sky will change." ”

"What do you mean by that?"

After the new queen ascended the throne, internal and external troubles caused the people to make a living, and the old man insisted that all these troubles began with the advice of the great teacher.

Li You was a little confused when he heard it, why did he say that it was the queen's pot at one moment, and that he said that it was the sins of the great power teacher for a while. The old man explained to him that this great master was born of the Great Moon Clan, proficient in the art of demons and evil, and handsome, and the queen was obedient to him.

"This queen really enjoys it, no wonder she was always noisy when she was a child, and she wanted to be an emperor when she grew up." Before Li You's words were finished, the old man hurriedly covered his mouth and whispered in his ear that he must not talk nonsense, if he was heard, he would be beheaded.

Li You also nodded after hearing this, it was normal for ancient people to be superstitious, and even reached a state of madness. This great teacher may be a monk all the way, and he can just do some tricks, and to put it bluntly, he is not as capable as his chemistry teacher.

"It's getting late, let's go back to the city." The old man stood up, tapped the sand off his body, and then walked towards the sheep. The two walked unhurriedly along the top of the sand dunes, and soon saw the whole picture of the ancient city of yellow sand in the afterglow of the sunset.

"It's spectacular!" Li You looked at this square ancient city and couldn't help but admire. Li You turned his head to look at the old man and said, "I don't know where the ancient country of Loulan is, if I can take a look, it won't be in vain for me to come for nothing." ”

"Right in front of you, the sand under your feet is the land of Loulan."

When Li You heard him say this, he immediately became puzzled, and hurriedly asked Isn't this Shanshanguo, why is it called Loulan again?

The old man smiled and explained that this Loulan Ancient Kingdom was renamed Shanshan Kingdom during the period of Emperor Zhao of the Western Han Dynasty, and it was only from that time that it was considered to have surrendered to the Han Dynasty on the bright side.

However, it is now the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the eunuchs are chaotic, and they can't take care of it anymore. After the beautiful man sent it, I am afraid that the envoys who escorted him will be able to find their own home when they return.

As soon as he heard the beautiful man, Li You chuckled in his heart, for some reason, he always felt that he had to see the appearance of this beautiful man with his own eyes. After making up his mind, he returned to the city gate with the old man.

"Please stay, the great master wants to see you two." Before they could enter the city, the old man and Li You were stopped by the soldiers defending the city. Li You thought that if he went, he would probably be more than lucky, and pondered that he wanted to refuse the invitation of the great teacher.

But he looked at the blood-stained Changge in the hands of the goalkeeper, and he was so scared that he couldn't do it, complaining about why he didn't bring the ion gun that Sister Hua gave him when he came out.

The old man muttered to him with his elbow, and said to the goalkeeper first: "Okay, but can you let the two of us go home and drink some water first, and then go to meet the national teacher?" ”

"The national teacher has everything, hurry up and go with me!" After speaking, the goalkeeper swung Chang Ge in front of the two, and Li You subconsciously took a step back.

He looked at the old man, and the old man looked at him, and the two had no choice but to obey his wishes and walk slowly and leisurely towards the city.