I paid special attention to the anomaly of this team, and I rummaged very carefully. Lao Wang really thought that there would be something valuable here, and he wanted to come over to help, but I stopped him, Xiao Mao's heart was careful, and it was nothing to help, but Lao Wang Mao was sloppy, and I was afraid that he would help.

"You see that you are doing this together, why are you still thin?" Lao Wang was afraid that he would not let him know if he found something good, so he squatted next to me and watched intently.

We were very careful, these things have been left for so many years, and if one is not careful, it can lead to damage.

It may have been a few minutes before Xiao Mao pulled something out of a corpse, turned around and waved at me. I hurried to his side, and when I saw it, what I found from the body was a cylinder.

Suddenly, it was a wooden cylinder, about two inches in diameter, and when I took it and checked it, I felt that the weight was wrong.

I had been at the Seven Holes Bridge for so long, and I still had some eyesight, and by flipping the cylinder over, I could confirm that the outside of the cylinder was half-hollowed sandalwood, but there was also an iron cylinder with a diameter of only an inch embedded inside.

The sandalwood becomes slag as soon as it is crushed, but it can be seen that the carving is very exquisite, and the wood and the iron cylinder inside are very tightly bitten, almost a whole. If this thing is in good condition, it can still be sold for a few bucks.

"What is this?" Lao Wang's eyes were fixed on the cylinder and asked, "Is it worth it?" ”

"Why are you like falling into the eyes of money? Get out of the way, don't get down to business. "I pushed Wang aside and tried to open the cylinder.

The cylinder is not rusty, and it can be opened after a short time by slowly prying it with a knife against the edge.

I pinched the loose cylinder and just wanted to open the lid, but my mind flashed, and I couldn't help but remember some past events when I opened the manshou box. The longevity box is very delicate, there is a hardcover machine bracket inside, and if you force it open it with external force, the bracket will be triggered.

I'm not sure if this little cylinder in my hand is the kind of thing with a bracket, but it's better to be careful. I pinched the lid slightly, pulling it out little by little, while listening intently for any sound in the cylinder. The ancient mechanism technique is limited by technology, no matter how ingenious, it also needs a trigger device, and then drives the machine to run, as long as the trigger device is touched, there will inevitably be a sound.

I was sure that there was no sound in the cylinder, so I relieved myself and pulled the lid off the cylinder.

However, as soon as the lid of the cylinder was lifted, a faint puff of smoke rose from the cylinder, and I could feel as if it was heating up suddenly, and at the same time, I could smell a pungent smell.

At this time, my brain seemed to be spinning extremely fast, and I turned the cylinder over, and suddenly, a small roll of paper that had begun to burn fell from the cylinder. I stepped on the roll of paper and wrung it into the sand.

"What's going on?" Xiao Mao was also confused this time.

"There's yellow phosphorus in the cylinder." I bent down and pressed the still smoking cylinder into the sand. The cylinder is sealed, but if an unsuspecting person opens the cylinder, the paper in the cylinder will burn and instantly turn to ashes.

I took the small roll of paper out of the sand, and thanks to my extra eyes and quick reaction, the edges of the paper were scorched, but only a small part of it was burned.

The paper is specially treated, it looks like a piece of paper, but in fact there are three layers, the middle layer is written and then covered with a layer of paper, one side is waxed and the other is oiled. This ensures that the paper retains its handwriting even if it is damaged by the surface. Sanhe paper is not afraid of wind, sun and rain, even if it is exposed to the air, it can be stored for a long time, however, because of the processing of raw materials, it is most afraid of fire, and the speed of burning is very fast.

This method of making paper has long been lost, but this kind of triple paper was used by people in the past when necessary.

The sealed steel cylinder preserves the paper perfectly, and the wax and oil prevent the paper from oxidizing. When I opened the small roll of paper, Xiao Mao deliberately took a few steps back to the side. In fact, I didn't shy away from him, because Xiao Mao participated in the whole excavation process, and there was nothing to hide. But he knows the rules, so he deliberately doesn't look at the words on the paper.

The text on this small piece of paper, with a water regular script, which is a popular font in the Tang Dynasty, from the central to the local, where you see the text, it is basically regular script. Just such a detail, and according to the clues we found before, we can conclude that this caravan, along with all the things carried by the caravan, are all left over from the Tang Dynasty to the present.

There weren't many words on the paper, and I read it several times, and the meaning was probably clear.

Xiao Mao's judgment was very accurate, this caravan of twenty-six people was really composed of soldiers from Qianniuwei in disguise.

There were twenty-six members of the caravan, and the leader was a Qianniu Wei Zhonglang general named Wu Qian. This piece of paper is actually a secret order handed over by Nan Ya to General Zhonglang.

The content of the secret order is very simple, which means that Zhonglang is ordered to lead Wu Poor, lead twenty-five people, and go along the trade route to find the world.

At the bottom of the paper, there is Nan Ya's seal, this paper secret order, not only handed over to Wu Qiang to carry out the task, but also a proof of his identity. If he really encounters a completely unresolvable danger, Wu Qian can destroy the secret order in the cylinder, or he can take out the secret order to prove himself.

That's all there is to it, and at a glance, I think it's quite clear, but if you look closely, it's still a little confusing.

Obviously, this disguised team, under the cover of the caravan's identity, walked on the Silk Road and traveled through the countries of the Western Regions in order to find the "great world". ”

But what is the world? It's puzzling. There is no other written description of the secret order, and the concept of the world is very vague, it may be a place, an organization, or a person. I thought about it, but I really couldn't think of an answer.

Moreover, the paper secret itself is also very chewy.

Qianniuwei is an institution that has different names and responsibilities in all dynasties. Before the late Tang Dynasty, the full name of Qianniuwei was the left and right Qianniuwei, and their responsibilities were mainly to be in charge of the palace garrison, which was closely around the court and the emperor, in a sense, they could also be considered to be a personal soldier of the emperor.

The order to mobilize Qianniuwei is generally issued by Nanya, and General Qianniuwei implements it, but whether it is Nanya or General Qianniuwei, if there is no intention, then they will not mobilize Qianniuwei.

That is, the secret order, most likely from the emperor at that time.

This caravan, or the secret order in this cylinder, may be a clue, but I still don't understand, what does this clue have to do with us?

"Little Mao." I thought about it for a while, turned around and asked Xiao Mao, "Can I stay here for two days?" ”

"Yes." Xiao Mao nodded: "Our supplies are still relatively rich, and two days are not much." ”

"That's good, it only takes two days, and after two days, no matter what the situation, let's move on."

I'm going to spend two days looking at this place again. Completely digging up the flooded caravan, it is not realistic, and it is not necessary.

"This man, let's stay on top for now." Xiao Mao fiddled with the corpse behind him, the cylinder was found from this corpse, there is no doubt that this brother is the general of Qianniu Wei called Wu Qiang.

"Keep them, and bury them again when we're leaving."

"Do you want to keep digging now?"

"I'm tired for two days, and I'm not in a hurry for a while, eat first, then rest, and we'll dig again tomorrow."

During the meal, Xiao Mao told me that the caravan was submerged, but the direction they wanted to go before their death should be the direction in which the head of the leading camel rushed, and the leading camel would not turn around casually under any circumstances, even if it was dead, the head would always be in the direction in which it was about to walk.

I came to the spirit, and now I have no clues to find the ruins of the ancient city of Chepan, whether this caravan is really doing business or carrying out a mission, when they come to this place, they must go to the then Chepan City to stay for a few days and replenish some supplies. Therefore, the direction in which the caravan is moving is the direction where the ancient city of Chepan is located, and if you go down here, there is still a glimmer of hope that you can find the ancient city of Chepan.

After eating, we strengthened the tent, and Lao Wang still thinks about the dozens of dollars he lost in the small inn fighting the landlord, and pulls me and Xiaomao to take revenge. After playing for a while, Ya began to play again, what crooked melon and cracked jujube cards have to catch the bottom of the local owner, suffered two bombs, and directly dropped the cards and did not play.

When it was time for the vigil, Lao Wang said that he was not feeling well. Xiao Mao asked me to keep watch on the eve of the night, so that I could sleep until dawn after the shift change.

I wrapped myself in a blanket and sat in front of the tent for vigil. To be honest, I also feel that I am a little too dead-eyed, the submerged caravan has no research value, and staying up for two more days is actually a waste of time and energy, but if I don't dig up something, I always don't give up.

After dark, the temperature became colder and colder, and I couldn't stretch out my hands. After about two hours of watching, I stood up and wanted to move.

Swish...... Swish......

It was then that I suddenly heard the sound of sand rising and falling from the sand pit that we had spent more than two days digging.

The sound was clearly someone digging in the pit, but the other four people in the team were sleeping in the tent now, who else would be digging in the pit?

I was afraid that I had misheard and misjudged, so I immediately walked slowly towards that side.

As soon as I moved, the sound of the pit seemed to disappear at once, but after I listened for two more minutes, the rustling reappeared.

After repeating this a few times, I had already walked to the side of the bunker unconsciously.