The desert is vast, the wind is raging, and although the hot sun is slightly subdued under the shade of sand and dust, it will still roast people dizzy and crumbling. The swirling sand and dust will never be too polite, as long as the slightest negligence, it will burrow into people's eyes, ears, mouths and noses, and even suffocate people in more serious cases. Therefore, in the desert under the scorching sun, those who can still stand up and walk must not only have a strong physique, but also have a strong will.

On the endless sea of sand, there was indeed such a team of people, looking at large and small boxes and full of goods, like a team of dartmen. In such an environment and climate, even if you lie down and sleep, you will feel that the bed is hot, let alone carrying such a few boxes of goods day and night, so many people would rather be a merchant than a dart master.

At the front of the line was a sturdy and tall middle-aged man, dressed in a short suit made of black satin, alert and capable, looking like a darthead. He is the only person in this team who still maintains a steady pace and straightens his waist, not that his body structure is different from others, but that the person who is the head of the dart is often much stronger than others, because the duty of the dart master is to ensure the safety of the goods regardless of their own lives no matter when and where, especially in this environment, people have to pay most of the will to fight against exhaustion, dryness, exposure to the sun, wind and sand, it is often difficult to take into account the initial responsibility, Then at this time, the excellence of the dart head will be reflected.

The middle-aged man was followed by a white-faced boy of twelve or thirteen years old, his body was slightly thin, and his body was a little shaky in such a violent wind. Judging from his resemblance to the middle-aged man, it can be judged that they are father and son. The boy inherited the slender eyebrows and eyes of the dart head, the bridge of the nose, and the vivid thin lips, but did not inherit his bronzed skin. Maybe he didn't have enough experience, maybe this was the first time he followed his father's dart, and after the second, third, fourth, and countless times, the boy was no longer weak, and he was used to sleeping in the open air, in the sun and rain, and he would have his father's bronzed skin and vicissitudes of life.

Although his son is so weak, this middle-aged man has never helped him, others will think he is ruthless, but the young man knows that his father wants him to know that his parents cannot stay by his side all his life, and it is impossible to help him all his life, but only he can really help himself, and the so-called strength is formed in the continuous struggle against the harsh natural environment and unbearable fate.

The centaurs dragged their steps forward like this, and the last bag of water bladders was left, and no one knew if they would die if they continued to advance, but no one dared to guarantee that they would not die faster if they stopped, and what did not make them lose confidence was that the dart head was still there.

Not far away, a simple tea shop appeared in front of you, in fact, the earth-colored shape made it look more like a ruin, but the yellowed canvas splashed with thick ink on the word "tea" clearly indicated that it was a tea shop. This undoubtedly gave everyone a great joy, but I am afraid that the attraction of being able to enter and pour a lot of water now has far exceeded that of being an emperor. In this way, the journey of the team is much faster, and people often ignore the physical burden when they are faced with an urgent need in their hearts.

"Wait!"

In this situation of "a long drought and a rainy day", it often makes people feel unreal, and this shout really makes everyone stop.

It turned out that Wang Xisheng, who had always spoken very coldly, opened his mouth, and he stopped in front of everyone: "Haven't you thought that it was a common mirage in the desert?" ”

Before Wang Xisheng's words fell, he was hit several times on the head, "Your kid's head is broken?" Wang Xisheng rubbed his head very aggrievedly, thinking: "I'm not for the good of you turtle sons, I'm afraid that you will run in vain and be even more desperate." When he looked at it again, his brothers were already sitting in the tea shop.

"Brother Wang, the mirage in the desert is generally a terrace and water pavilion, waterfalls and mountains, beautiful as a fairyland, it will not be such a simple tea shop." The thin boy stepped forward and politely explained, "Those who have really read books are not like such rude men. Wang Xisheng thought that this was the first time he walked in the desert, and he was confident that he had heard someone say something about the desert mirage, so he took it out and showed it, but he didn't expect it to be a joke, everyone would only laugh and ridicule, only this young man was enlightened, it was really rare, and he thought that he had always been despised in the Hongfu Dart Bureau, and only this young man did not hinder his identity, and he was often relieved and encouraged, and treated himself with courtesy. For a while, I was so moved that I was moved.

"Brother Wang, go to the tea shop and drink water!" The boy had gone ahead of him.

There is not much water in the tea shop, not only the sand is calm, but also a strange smell, and each person only sells one bowl, and the steamed buns are naturally astringent and hard, and they can't be swallowed. After only eating and drinking for a while, some people started scolding. But the owner of this tea shop and Xiao Er are like they didn't hear it, they are cleaning up the accounts by themselves, they may have been here for a long time, and they have long been accustomed to the abuse of the guest officer, after all, no one's business is good these days.

"Boss, do you have a camel here?" The boy asked.

"Absolutely, it's a profitable business." The boss is very simple, if he is from the Central Plains, he must always be shouting losses.

"How much silver?"

"Fifty taels."

"Dad, now that the horses are tired and should not bear weights, let them be given to the brothers who have no leg strength to ride! All the goods were hunchbacked, and although the animal traveled slowly, it could continue, and it was drought-tolerant by nature, and it was able to store water, and when the water bladder was exhausted, we could drink its plasma to keep it alive. The boy explained to his father and asked for his consent.

"My son! My son! Dart nodded in approval, in fact, he was going to buy camels from the boss. He saw that this was the first time the child followed him to dart, and he was so sophisticated, and he was very pleased in his heart, thinking that he would be heavy on literature and light on martial arts, and he was afraid that he would be difficult to take charge of the Hongfu Dart Bureau in the future, which can be seen that it is very useful to study behind closed doors all day long, as the saying goes, "read ten thousand books, travel ten thousand miles", and he did this to make his son understand that mixing in the rivers and lakes can not only rely on force.

Dart bought seven camels from the boss, replenished dry food and water and set out on the road.

A few more times the yellow sand overflowed, and when I looked back, the tea shop was no longer visible.

"Everyone cheer up, hold on to the road for another seven or eight miles, we can reach Dunhuang, go to the city lord to unload the goods, we are done, and then we can enjoy the wine and food." The dart head also held his breath to encourage his subordinates, but only said these few words, and sand came in his mouth, which was very uncomfortable, and he was silent on the road after that.

At that moment, a strong yellow wind swept towards this side, bringing with it an overwhelming cloud of sand and soil, which made the already exhausted group of men and horses choke. But this yellow wind does not seem to be a natural formation, but more like it was brought up by dozens of good horses.

"Oh no, did you meet a horse thief?" The dart head was nervous: "The horse thieves are all strong, good at riding and shooting, and well versed in the geographical environment of the desert. ”

"Dad, something is wrong, let's go back to the tea shop first! There's a bit more initiative to be had. The boy persuaded.

"Hmm,...... Gao Hu, Pang Jing, Xie Yifei, each of the three of you takes two brothers to protect the goods, and you must not lead the camels no matter what, and the other horses are separated, and they are sandwiched in the middle one after the other. We withdraw to the tea shop! Dart Head said. Only then did everyone realize that they had encountered robbers, and they hurriedly changed formations as instructed.

But danger always came quickly, and before the team had retreated a few steps, the sound of horses' hooves and the clamor of shouts had already encircled them, and after the sand had filled the earth, the people were surrounded by horse thieves. The horse thief at the head looked obscene, wore a short animal skin suit, his left hand was amputated, and an iron hook was installed in the broken place, and the other minions were all fierce and vicious, and they made people upset.

"This big brother, we are just passing by, if unfortunately disturbs you, brother, I am here to accompany you." The dart head stepped forward and said respectfully, and took out two ingots of silver from the silver belt and presented them, "These silver are all our purchase expenses, and I hope that you will be accommodating and let us go." ”

A little minion took the silver and handed it to the thief, who smiled ugly, shoved the silver into his waist and shouted, "You are asking for food for me Azsohur?" I also want to use these two ingots of silver as travel expenses, have you messed up the rivers and lakes? The thief smiled and licked the iron hook on his left hand with his tongue and said: "I want all your goods, and those who know each other will leave the goods and leave, and Lao Tzu will spare your dog's life." ”

The dart head also looked solemn and said: "Since Your Excellency has been mixed with the rivers and lakes, you should know that I am a dart master, and the dart master can not want his life or lose the goods." You're asking too much, aren't you? ”

"In that case...... the thief waved his hand and made a killing motion, and the horse thieves rushed up with grinning teeth, and a bloody battle ensued between the two sides. The horse thieves had excellent horses and were full of energy, and they were accustomed to fighting in the desert, so no matter how skilled the people of the Hongfu Dart Bureau were, they still fell behind.

The boy had never seen such a chaotic scene, and for a moment he was a little overwhelmed, he had learned some kung fu but had never used a weapon, let alone killed anyone, and he hesitated to draw the sword that he had worn to decorate his waist as he watched the brothers fall one after another. At this moment, a small minion swung a huge axe towards him, the wind was so strong that it was about to shake his hair bun apart, and seeing that the axe blade was about to split into the Tianling Gai, his body couldn't move a step, and his father was being struck by someone, and he couldn't pull out to save him.

It was the first time in the boy's life that he was so close to death, so close that he didn't have time to feel the fear of death. Who knew that the strong wind passed, he didn't feel a trace of pain, but just heard the screams of another person in front of him, when he opened his eyes, it was Wang Xisheng who blocked in front of him, he originally used his own sword to block, but because the strength of the axe was too strong, he actually cut the sword, but because of this, he changed direction, not to his head, but only deeply embedded in his left shoulder, but such pain is very bearable.

Wang Xisheng held down the handle of the axe, so that the minion couldn't pull out the weapon for a while, raised his hand and released the sword in his sleeve, which hit his heart, and the little minion fell down in response, and Wang Xisheng himself also fell. The young man hurriedly stepped forward to support him, and tears burst out of his eyes: "How can you ......?" "How can a manly man shed tears easily,...... If you leave alive, you are worthy of me. After Wang Xisheng shoved the last sword in his sleeve to the young man, he pushed him away and entered the siege again......

Except for the dart head and the boy, all the dart masters are dead. Half of the horse thieves were gone, but it was enough to surround the father and son, and to make matters worse, the boss of the other party was still there, and he had never made a move.

The boy was ashamed and said, "Dad, it's all my fault, if I hadn't proposed to use a camel to carry the goods, I might have escaped at the speed of a horse." ”

"It's not your fault, our horses are already very tired, and they are not as good as the horses of this gang of thieves, so we can only blame our luck this time." Half of the dart head was covered with blood, and while grabbing the young man's shoulder, he took out his long whip from his arms that he hadn't used for a long time and said, "Do you remember the way back?" As soon as the young man heard this, he already understood what his father meant: "No, I will die with you." ”

"Then what about your mother? What should I do with the whole Hongfu dart game? Have you thought about it? The dart head gripped the young man's thin shoulders, and his expression had never been so terrifying.

"I'm going to die anyway, and I'm still nagging endlessly, you Han people are trouble." The thief was impatient.

The dart head bowed his head and whispered to the boy, "As soon as I throw out the whip later, you will take the opportunity to escape!" ”

"Hmm!" The young man nodded solemnly, he had never disappointed his father when he was so big, and not this time.

The dart head suddenly threw out a long whip unexpectedly, the whip road was in a circle, just everyone attacked, all the people did not expect that he still had such a hand, naturally he was caught off guard, the horses were even more frightened, they raised their front hooves and neighed, and threw down several minions. "Run!" The young man remembered the words of the dart, "You must escape", and ran without looking back, until his legs no longer obeyed, and then he fell to the ground.

The scorching sun made the boy feel pain even turning over, the skin of his whole body cracked like the dry earth, and the dryness in his mouth was afraid that he could drink all the water of a lake now. Once again, he felt the threat of death.

I don't know how long he was unconscious, the young man's nostrils were suddenly stimulated by a little fresh green, he hurriedly sat up, but found a few camel thorns in front of him, "There is help." The boy pounced on the camel thorns like a savior, and pulled at the clump of camel thorns, even though his hands were dripping with blood. This camel thorn is a rare plant in the desert, its rhizomes are abundant and deep in the sand, and it is good at preserving the scarce water obtained from the ground, which is why they can survive in the desert, camels can use them to feed their hunger on the way, and dying travelers can eat their rhizomes to survive.

"I can't die, I can't die." This belief made the young man's will unusually strong, and he munched on the rhizome of the camel's thorn and pondered his next step. Now he has two paths to take, one is to turn back to the tea-shop where he came, but the distance is long, and there is no guarantee that he will be so lucky to encounter camel thorns again; The second is to continue to go west to Dunhuang, not only the distance is closer, but also the city lord also has an explanation. Of course, he would like to return to his mother now, but he also has to think about the reputation of Hongfu Dart Bureau, his father is probably ......, and he is now the only pillar of Hongfu Dart Bureau.



Dunhuang City, the fortress of the Silk Road, the only oasis in the desert of one hundred miles in the Western Regions, there are depression ponds and crescent springs to transfer water sources, the four seasons are no different from the Central Plains, the products in the city are abundant, the people's livelihood is cheerful, the city presides over the topography, and levies heavy taxes on the merchants who come and go, and gets rich in the world.

"What's your name?" After listening to the young man's experience all the way, the high-ranking Dunhuang City Lord carefully looked at this dusty but extraordinary young man.

"Lu Qingyu." The boy replied word for word.

"Well......" The city lord stroked his chin and suddenly said, "Come on, arrest him for me." ”

Lu Qingyu was taken aback: "City Lord, what do you mean by this, do you want to ask the master for the crime just because we lost your dart?" ”

"If you think so, you are too naïve, I have never asked for any flower brocade and Han Dynasty antiques, and there is no such person as Qi Yuncheng at all. …… I don't know what your Hongfu Dart Bureau offended my brother, he flew a pigeon and passed a book, telling me to kill someone surnamed Lu when I met him. ”